


Blood

by HyperRedFox



Category: Banana Bus Squad
Genre: Blood and Gore, Depression, Forced, Gore, Kidnapping, Multi, Murder, Polyamory, References to Depression, game
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-03
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2020-02-16 02:54:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 27
Words: 67,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18682693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HyperRedFox/pseuds/HyperRedFox
Summary: It hasn't been the best year for Evan. His father passed away, his step-mom is a bitch, his best friend went missing, and to top it off, he's been kidnapped by a couple of psychopaths, and forced to play their sick game.And for what reason? Their amusement? Because they're sick in the head? Or, maybe he doesn't want to know.*Disclaimer* I do not own anyone in this story. They are their own people.*Warning* This story will contain cursing, depression, violence, death, smut, rape, gore, and self-harm. If any of those make you feel uncomfortable, do not read this story.





	1. Bed

**Author's Note:**

> _**Hey Foxes!** _
> 
> _**This is a little something new that I've been wanting to work on for quite some time, and I'm excited to finally start it!** _
> 
> _**Now, firstly, this story was inspired by both the Dananronpa series and the Saw series, in a way, so I promise you all that warning in the description is not a joke. And if you didn't read the description, well, I'll add the warning right here.** _
> 
> _**This story will contain violence, death, gore, self-harm, smut, and rape. If you do not feel comfortable reading about these things, do not read this story.** _
> 
> _**That is one of the main points I wanted to hit on firstly. Next thing is that this is a poly story, which I have no experience writing. So, I apologize in advance if it turns out cringey.** _
> 
> _**Now, this is a bit of a weird project for me due to the fact that this is a bit out of my comfort zone. This is the first time I'm going to be writing about a poly relationship, and this is the first time I'm writing about something that is truly fucked up.** _
> 
> _**Yes, this is even going to rival Darkness in the Neon Light, for those who have read that story.** _
> 
> _**Am I rumbling? I think I'm rumbling.** _
> 
> _**ANYWAYS!** _
> 
> _**I hope you all enjoy this fucked up story I have planned, and I'll see you lovely, twisted Foxes in the first chapter! Bye!** _
> 
> _**Also, this will be a bottom Evan. If you don't like that, don't read it.** _

My body freezes up as I stand at the doorway of my father's hospital room, the beeping of his heart monitor being the only noise coming out of it. It's slow and steady... but I know that at any moment, that can change... and that's what scares me so much.

My dad is laying in the bed, his frail body fighting so hard to keep going. His eyes are closed, but the nurse swore that he was still awake... seeing him like this is a nightmare... but I know that this isn't a dream I can wake up from... No matter how much I wish it was.

I want to run away from the skeleton in that bed, but I want to see my dad so badly... I want to hug him and tell him I love him... but I'm so scared to move.

It is at this time that I feel someone put their hand on my shoulder. The person I brought with me for moral support. The person I know would not let me leave this hospital without talking to my dad.

"You can do this, Evan," Brock then tells me as he gives my shoulder a tight squeeze. "You know he wants to talk to you. You know he loves you and misses you. I know you're scared, but so is he... don't make him feel like he's alone when he needs you."

Tears start to build up in my eyes before I finally step into the room, alone. My heart starts to pound so hard I can hear it. My stomach starts to twist as I get closer and closer. I only took about ten steps into the room, but it feels like I walked a thousand miles.

Once I'm right next to him, I put my hands on the side of his bed and stare down at him... He looks so tired...

Tears fall down my face and I try to keep my crying silent. My eyes slowly fall down to his boney hand, and slowly I reach over and grab it. He doesn't move... and his hand feels so cold.

I take a deep breath and look back up to his face. "Hey dad." The second I say that, I feel his hand tighten around my fingers, letting me know he heard me and that he is awake. This instantly breaks me, making me start to sob. "I'm sorry I haven't come to see you... I just... I hate to see you like this. I don't want to lose you. I need you... but I know that you needed me too. I'm so sorry I haven't been here for you, dad... I love you so much, and I'm so sorry."

My heart breaks as I cry more and more. I fall to my knees but I keep holding his hand... I never let go of it... not until the nurse pulls me out of the room an hour later... I didn't even hear his heart monitor flatline.

***

My eyes slowly open as I hear the alarm on my phone go off for the tenth time today. I just shut it off, truly not wanting to get out of bed, no matter how badly the alarm begged me to wake up. Some part of me wants to stop setting that stupid alarm every night, but another part of me doesn't want to. The same part of me that still has hope that one day my best friend will come knocking on my door again instead of my step-mom.

As if by magic, at the very moment I even think of that old bitch, my door swings open as my evil step-mother barges in and swings open the heavy curtains that were keeping the late-afternoon sunlight out. She then looks at me with a fire burning in her eyes. _Great, she's pissed off that I'm still in bed... again._

"I'm sick and tired of this fucking bullshit," she immediately yells at me for the millionth time this year. "You are such a lazy piece of shit! You don't work, don't go to school, fucking hell, you don't even go out and party like a normal twenty-year-old!"

"Shouldn't you be happy about that part," I groan as I sit up in bed, knowing that I'm going to have to wake up now. "Since I'm not going out every night, you know I'm not fucking around, getting in trouble, and doing stupid shit like heroin."

"First off, why is that the first drug you thought of? Second, don't you fucking give me attitude?! The only reason why-"

"I'm not on the street is because you loved my dad and he asked you to take care of me. I know."

"Then why don't you fucking do something!? Do you think your father would want you to throw away your god damn life!?" She starts walking towards my door, but she doesn't step out of my room. "I don't get why you would rather waste your day away in bed! You don't do shit, and I'm getting fucking sick of it! I don't care what you do, but I want you to get the hell out of this house!"

My eyes widen in fear when she says this. "Wait, are you kicking me out?"

"No! I fucking promised your father I would take care of you, and I plan to keep that promise to him, but I'm going to get you out of this fucking house! So, either you find something to do, or I'm going to drag you out into the middle of town and I'm just going to drop you off somewhere and leave!"

After she says that, she finally leaves my room, slamming the door behind her. I groan loudly before I slam my face into the pillow and start to scream into it. As if this year couldn't get any worse for me.

At the beginning of this year, I lost my dad. He got cancer over five years ago, and despite his long fight, he couldn't beat it. It hit me hard and I had started to fall into a deep depression. I didn't want to sleep, eat, or take care of myself. I didn't care because I didn't see the point to it if my dad was gone. The man that cared so much for me. The man that made the sunshine even on rainy days. The only man I could ever love and who was an inspiration for me growing up. Someone for me to look up to as a role model... He was gone... What was the point of caring so much...

Well, that was at least my mindset for a month. After that month, my best friend, Brock, had enough and forced me to see that I did have a reason to care about life again... And it was him.

He literally came into my room, pulled me out of bed, dragged me down the hall, threw me into my bathtub, and turned on the shower. All because he wanted to make a point of if I wasn't going to take care of myself, he was going to make me. He never left me alone for too long. He pushed me to do everything, big or small. He made me start living again, and gave me a shoulder to cry on when it was starting to get hard for me.

If it wasn't for him, I would have continued to just lie in my bed, not sleeping or eating, crying and wishing for my dad back... Which was why I started to fall for him the longer he stayed by my side. The longer he talked to me and made me feel like I was wanted... and then... he was gone.

Four months ago, he went out to hang out with a couple of friends he made from his college. He told us that they were having some kind of party for summer, I don't remember. All I know is, that morning, he and I had plans to spend the day together, but he never showed up. Around noon, I called his home to see if he had overslept, and his parents started freaking out when I told them I hadn't seen him.

I went over and they called the police, but it didn't really feel like they were taking it seriously when we told them what was happening... They didn't take it seriously until after a month of him being gone.

It's October now... He should have started school last month with everyone else... He was such a nerd, always looking forward to college every time school started coming around... _God, I miss him so much._

I slowly push myself up in bed and sit on my knees as I just stare down at my pillow, unsure of what to do. I don't want to go out... I just want to lay in bed until I die, but it looks like Jane, my step-mom, isn't going to let that happen. So, I start thinking about the other friends I had that still checked in on me.

There are a few people that instantly come to mind, but I'm still left unsure on if they would even want to deal with me. I was such a burden on everyone before... I have to be so much worse now.

After a minute of just staring at nothing, I finally pull myself out of bed and drag myself to my desk, starting up my computer for the first time in months. Once it's up and running, I pull my arm up to the desk and lay my head in my hand as I go onto Twitter.

I instantly see a bunch of notifications and messages instantly waiting for me the second I log in. Rolling my eyes, I just open and close the notifications to get them off of my screen and go into my messages and start scrolling down, ignore all of the new messages I had. I didn't have to read them. I already knew that each and every single new message are all asking the same thing, and I don't want to read them... _I don't know where he is... Please leave me alone._

After scrolling for a bit, I finally come to a name that I recognize, and I quickly click it. I then stare at the messages before I fell off social media, seeing what looked like such happy messages... _I was so close to these guys, and I cut them off the second I lost him... Would they even want to talk to me after all this time?..._

Taking a deep breath, I put both my hands on the keyboard and simply type **_"Hey."_**

After I send the message, I practically curl up into a ball in my chair and stare at the messages. My heart is beating fast. I feel so nervous and unsure. The many ways he could react to this sudden message, as simple as it is, start to come to mind, and the more I think about them, the more angry or annoyed they get.

Just when I start to feel tears fill my eyes from the mean messages my mind is showing me, I see his actual reply come up. Uncurling myself, I scoot closer and look at the message. **_"Hey; how are you doing?"_**

I let out a sigh of relief and wipe away my tears before I type back, _**"I've been... I've been better."**_

_**"We've been worried about you. I know how hard everything must be for you."** _

_**"It's fine. Listen, I just... Do you guys have plans to go out or something? I really need to get out of this house."** _

_**"Are you sure?"** _

_**"Yeah, if you guys are okay with me tagging along, that it."** _

_**"Well, if you feel up for it, Craig's was going to throw a Halloween party tonight. Some people are dressing up, but you don't need to, Marcel and I aren't."** _

_**"Ha, cool; so I won't be the only lame guy there that's too cool for Halloween."** _

_**"Lol, so, you want to come with? And you're sure you are feeling up to the idea of going out to party?"** _

_**"Yeah."** _

_**"Alright. I'll text Craig to let him know you'll be coming with, and I'll text you when Marcel and I will be on our way to pick you up then. Be ready by 6."** _

I look at the time on my computer and see that I have about three hours to get ready. I guess that's perfect. Letting out another sigh, I type back, _**"Alright. I'll see you guys then."**_

After sending the message, I stand up and drag myself to my closet and start digging around for a clean shirt. Not really caring too much about that I'll wear to the last minute party, I just grab my black, long-sleeved shirt, a pair of dean jeans, and black shoes before I walk across the hall to take a shower for the first time in... Actually, I think this would be my first shower since he disappeared... That's... actually pretty disgusting and depressing.

Locking the door, I put my clothes on the sink and turn on the water for the shower. As it heats up, I brush my teeth and just stare at my reflection. I look tired as all hell, and my hair has gotten kind of long. Not having time to go out to get a haircut, I just dig into the cabinet under the sink and pull out some scissors and I just start cutting my hair until I think that it's at a pretty good length.

Once that's done, I shave off the weird little beard that was trying to grow in and then I throw away all of the hair on the sink. By the time I'm done, the water is starting to get nice and steamy, so I get undress and jump in. I guess I'm actually starting to feel a little better already... Or maybe it's from the excitement of getting to see some old friends... Either way, I can already feel a small smile come to my face. Hopefully, everything goes well tonight.


	2. Rumors

_ "I'm really starting to get scared. How can the police seriously not find this guy?" _

_ "Who's to say it's even a guy? What if it was a chick doing this? Or a group of people?" _

_ "Most serial killers are male." _

_ "Doesn't mean girls can't kill!" _

_ "What if all of this are cult killings? I've heard that one of the victims that were found were completely drained of blood!" _

_ "Sounds more like a vampire." _

_ "This is serious!" _

_ "Exactly why we started this thread! Now, let's stop playing telephone and get to the point! Does anyone know anything about what has been happening around campus! Something that was not ripped from Twilight or Vampire Diaries!" _

_ "Rumor has it that the first guy that disappeared has something to do with all of this. What was his name again?" _

My head starts to shake the more I read into this thread I found on Facebook created by some of the students at the town's college. I can't help but be confused by everything.

_A killer? Disappearances? Drained of blood? What the hell have I missed?_

As I go to refresh the page, I jump at the sound of my phone vibrating on the desk. Clenching my heart and letting out an embarrassed sigh, I reach over and open the text my friend had sent me, telling me they were just starting to pull up to my street. Not wasting a beat, I shut off my computer and walk out of my room, shutting and locking the door behind me. I then run down the stairs and just shout out a quick bye to Jane before I rush out.

The second I step out and feel the cool breeze hit me, I can't help but shut my eyes and take a deep breath, breathing in fresh air for the first time in so long. When I open my eyes, I instantly smile and run across my lawn, getting to the sidewalk just as the car comes to a stop in front of me. Once I open the door to the backseat, I jump in and feel my heart explode in my chest as the two in the front turn around and smile at me. Two of my closest friends, falling just behind Brock, Marcel and Tyler.

"How's it goin'," I then ask as I reach over and give them both a quick hug. They both just laugh and push me off of them before Marcel starts driving, Tyler still turned around in his seat to face me.

"We should be the ones asking you that," Tyler then says with a huge smile on his face. "We haven't heard from you since... well, you know."

I try not to let my smile fall, but I end up having to look out the window to try to calm myself before I say, "I know... Brock disappearing was... It was a lot to take in."

"Hey, we aren't going to be sad in this car," Marcel then says, loudly, causing Tyler and I to turn our attention to him. "You asked to come out with us for a reason, man. Doesn't matter what that reason is. So, if you are going to be out with us and going to be living it up with us and Craig tonight, then you are going to enjoy it!"

"Not only that," Tyler then takes over. "But there is still a chance that Brock will come home someday! And you know he won't be happy seeing you locked away from us."

I sigh and nod, giving them a little smile. "You guys might be right."

"No, no," Marcel then says. "We are right! You have to think positively, man! Think, he will be found and he will come back home, alive! And after he comes home, Craig is going to throw the biggest party this town has ever seen!"

Tyler laughs before he adds, "And we will be the biggest group of fucking retards there, standing awkwardly in the corner as Craig starts a fucking rave in his own house for a night."

I can't help but laugh as they then take turns listing off what Craig and us would do if Brock is found... However, I can't help but also think that he's been gone for way too long to come back safely...

I hide my worry though and try to let Marcel's words sink in more. I mean, he and Tyler just seem so happy... I want to feel like that too... I need to try... at least just for tonight.

Before we go to the party, Marcel takes us to a McDonalds a few miles away from Craig's place. My stomach instantly growls the second we walk in and I see someone eating a burger. Nervously, I check my pocket, not even remembering if I had my wallet. Luckily, I did... unfortunately though, the only thing I had in it was my ID... I should have seen that coming.

"Don't worry," Marcel then says, nudging me with his elbow. "I got you this time. You owe me next though."

"Deal," I then laugh before he and I get into line and order our food.

Marcel, Tyler, and I then sit at a table in the back of the restaurant and they start catching me up on some of the things I've missed. Mostly, stories of fun things that they and Craig had been doing over the past few months... Hearing them talk about these random stories quickly start to get to me, and it starts to make me question whether or not I should even be here. _**I mean, it sounds like they wouldn't have even cared if I hadn't messaged them... Their lives kept moving forward... while mine stopped.**_

After a bit of time, our numbers get called, telling us that our food was done. Tyler and I go to grab everything, taking half of the sauces with us when no one is looking before we go back to join Marcel. As we all start to eat, I start to think about what I had seen on Facebook and decide to see if they know anything about it.

"Hey guys," I start off with a serious tone, causing them both to look up to me. "I was on Facebook before you guys came to pick me up and... What's this shit about a serial killer at the college?"

When I ask this, they both just stare at me with large eyes and Tyler drops his fries back into the pile he had been eating. After a bit, Marcel clears his throat and looks away. "Uh, well, that's... That's a long story and we really don't need to-"

"He should hear about this," Tyler then interrupts him. They both then turn to each other. "Literally everyone knows about this rumor and everyone will be fucking talking about it. It's all anyone can fucking talk about right now. And it's better he learns about this from us than from some retard thinking he was in on it too."

Marcel then just sighs and looks over to me. _Why are they acting like this?_

"Then you fucking tell him because I don't... I don't want to say it."

"You got to be kidding me," Tyler then growls before he turns to me, rolling his eyes. "A few months ago, bodies started showing up around the outskirts of town. The police haven't really told us much about them, except that all the victims were male and were students at the college. People started coming up with theories, and rumors have been going around a lot. It all being done by a crazy serial killer is just one of those theories. Another is that it was done by a cult, a satanist, a vampire. Those rumors all came to be because someone that claimed to have found one of the bodies says that the body looked to have been drained of all his blood.  
However, there is one rumor that has been going around that has been more retarded than anything else we fucking heard... well, tied for first." He stops and takes a deep breath, trying to think of how he could word this next line. However, there's no easy way to say it... I can see that in his eyes. "One of the rumors is that... is that Brock has been killing everyone."

"What," I instantly yell out, not believing what Tyler just told me.

"Look, we don't fucking believe that shit. Obviously, anyone that knows Brock knows he would never in a million years hurt someone. However, the first body that came up was found shortly after he disappeared, so the people who know about him think he had something to do with it. And since he hasn't been found yet and bodies are still piling up, people are trying to link these murders with him."

I shake my head, "That's fucking bullshit."

"Believe us, we know," Marcel groans before he takes a bite of his burger. "We've been getting shit on and hearing this bullshit ever since classes started. Last week, Tyler and Anthony almost got into a fight with some jackass that wouldn't shut up about how us hiding Brock was a crime."

"Wait, people are thinking you guys are hiding Brock?"

"That's the fucking rumor that's tied for first," Tyler then groans as he rubs his eyes. "I mean, all of us spent all summer searching for Brock, even before the police started taking it seriously. Why would we spend an entire fucking summer looking for someone when we fucking knew where he was? Why the fuck would we waste our time doing that bullshit?"

"And if we knew where he was and knew he killed someone, why would we risk our lives to hide him? I mean, don't get me wrong, I love Brock like a brother, but I'm not going to jail for his ass."

"We would have talked him into turning himself in and trying to take a plea bargain. Hiding him would put us all in jail, and could affect us in the future."

"Nah," I then say, shaking my head. "I get why you guys feel that way."

"And we know that you have no idea where he is either. I mean, you fucking disappearing the way that you did, it makes sense."

I sigh and start playing with a chicken nugget, having it slide around the rim of the ketchup. "So much is happening... it's hard to wrap my head around... and it's hard to believe people actually think Brock would be capable of being that evil. There's no way he would kill someone... of killing more than one person."

"Try one a week since he disappeared."

I practically slam my nugget into the ketchup. "What?!"

Marcel shakes his head and says, "That's why everyone is so worried. Every week there's been a new body popping up. We're not really expecting too many people at the party, honestly, because a bunch of people are now too scared to come out."

I look down at the mess in front of me and start to wipe away the ketchup with a couple of napkins. "None of this feels real."

"Reality is stranger than fiction," Tyler then says, shrugging and shoving fries back into his mouth. "As scary as this shit is, anything can happen. It literally took one day for so many people to disappear. One day for everyone to die. Everything can happen so fast, and it's scary to think about, but that shouldn't stop us from living our lives."

"And it honestly sucked when you let it stop you," Marcel then tells me, causing me to look up. "We know that you were closer to Brock than we were, but that didn't mean we didn't miss him just as much as you did. That didn't mean we didn't miss you either."

"And now that you know the truth about what's been happening around town with the rumors and bullshit," Tyler then takes over. "We're kind of hoping that this won't change your mind about coming to Craig's party."

The two then stare at me with big, pleading eyes, telling me that they really want me to stay out with them... _I literally just found out there is a fucking serial killer out here! I should be going home and telling Jane to fuck off if she thinks I'm going to be staying out all night!..._

"Nah, I'll still go out," I most likely stupidly said with a smile. Even if I know the smarter thing would be for me to go back home and stay in, at least until the killings stop... I can't. Because... they're right.

Just because bad things happen, it doesn't mean the world stops turning. Brock disappeared, but they kept living their lives... as did everyone else. The world didn't stop because I lost my best friend... nor did it stop when I lost my dad... it won't stop because there's some killer or a cult or a vampire out here, so why should I let it stop me from having one night out with my friends.

The second I say that I'll still stay out with them, they both immediately gain these big smiles on their faces and their eyes light up with excitement. We then quickly get back to eating and finish our food as fast as we can. Afterward, we walk back out, jump back into Marcel's car, and start the drive to Craig's house.

"This is going to be the best night ever," Marcel then says, practically bouncing in his seat. "I can just feel it!"


	3. Party

Pulling up to the beautiful, two-story house near the outskirts of town, we are all greeted by the thunderous bass coming from inside, making the Earth shake under our feet. I nervously follow behind Marcel and Tyler as they walk up to the door and push it open. The second the doors open, all I can see are flashing lights in a dark room and flashes of people dancing against one and other.

I gulp and follow close behind Marcel and Tyler as the push their way into the house and quickly make their way towards the kitchen, neither of them saying a word. Not really like it mattered. The music was so loud that even if we screamed, I don't think either of us would have heard each other.

After making our way to the kitchen of the large house, we quickly make our way out to the backyard, where we see a bunch of people from our high school, some of which I use to be close friends with. However, they aren't the main thing that catches my eye. What does is the tall, bottle blond haired guy, sitting around a little bonfire, vaping as some of his friends, who are either drinking or cooking marshmallows in the fire.

When the guys see him, we all make our way over and yell out his name until he turns around, the smile on his face instantly getting wider the second he sees us. Pushing himself out of his seat, he quickly runs over and gives Marcel and Tyler a quick hug before he tightly wraps his arms around me and squeezes the air out of me.

"I can't believe you actually came, man," Craig yells over the music before he lets me go. "I honestly thought Tyler was just fucking with me again!"

I laugh and shake my head, "Nah; I needed to get out of the house. I mean, four months seem like a good time to get the hell out."

He laughs and pats me on the back, "Well I hope you have fun, man! I got a shit ton of beer and whiskey in the kitchen. Some guys brought marshmallows to cook, I think one bag has pot in them though, so be careful with that. Other then that, you guys can do whatever. Just don't go fucking in the bedrooms and you guys are fine."

After he tells us this, he starts walking back to the group around the fire, and Tyler and Marcel go back into the house, leaving me alone. I sigh but try to force a smile and decide to try to hang out with Craig for a bit, but stop when I feel someone run up behind me and wrap their arms around my arms and chest. "Holy shit, Evan," I then hear someone yell in a little kid's voice. "I was starting to think you were dead too!"

I chuckle a bit and push the person off of me before I turn around and hug them back. "Thanks Lui, you fucking asshole!"

He laughs before he pushes me off of him. "Everyone has been worried about you, man. I know Brock leaving was hard on you, but I was honestly scared that something bad happened to you."

"I'm fine now," I lie before I rub the back of my neck. "I just need to hope for the best."

"Oh God, you need to say hi to everyone," he then yells before he grabs my arm and drags me into the house.

I follow behind him as he pulls me up the stairs and into a room, where I see a bunch of people all playing random games. I see two people in practical sitting in front of a TV with Mario Kart with split screen. Or at least, their screams catches my attention.

"Fucking hell! Brian! You're a fucking cheater!"

"You can't just call everyone fucking better than you a cheater!"

I hold back my laugh as Lui drags me over to the couch and he leans over it and rests his head on David's head, since this is the only time they are ever the same level as each other, and Lui always loved doing things like this.

"Lui, I need to focus, and I can't do that with you on my mind."

Brian starts to laugh a bit, causing him to go off the course. "Okay, that one was pretty good; I'll give you that."

I chuckle a bit and say, "And that's his one for the night," which causes Brian and David to freeze. Lui quickly grabs David's controller and pauses the game, while they both slowly turn their heads around to see if I was really there.

When they turn to look at me, it causes me to start to laugh at them. I couldn't really tell from behind, but David and Brian were both wearing costumes. David was dressed as a zombie while Brian was dressed as the Terminator, complete with a glued on piece of "metal" around his eye and a red contact.

Once they see me standing behind them, they quickly jump up and wrap their arms around me, pulling me over the couch to put me on the same side as them. "You fucking asshole," Brian yells out. "We've missed the fuck out of you!"

I laugh and hug the two back, my heart pounding in my chest so hard that it honestly feels like it's going to burst. _I didn't think these guys would miss me this much... **They must think I'm such a piece of shit for cutting them off the way I did.**_

When they let me go, they sit back down, but just stare at me instead of their game. "Where have you been," David then asks me. "There's been a rumor that you were killed."

"What," I laugh. "No, I just needed some... some alone time after Brock disappeared."

"I told you that why he disappeared," Lui then shouts before he smacks both Brian and David in the back of the head. 

"Well, it's not like we could have known that," Brian yells before he grabs a pillow and throws it back at Lui.

"We're only sayin' what we had heard around town," David yells as well as he rubs the back of his head.

"And the town thinks zombies and vampires are eating people," Lui laughs before he jumps over the back of the couch and sits in between the two. "Rumors are just rumors. None of them can really be believed."

My smile falls a bit as I look at the three. I know where Lui's opinion comes from... It's from the fact that people say that he has been fucking both Brian and David for years now... I've been one of them who has believed that rumor... and it comes from seeing the three like this.

The way they talk, the way they act, the way they look at Lui when he isn't paying attention... it all just screams that they care about him as more than just a friend... at least, to me it does.

"Evan," Brian yells, snapping me back to reality.

I look back to the three and just say a quick, "Yeah."

"Dude," Lui laughs a bit, "You looked like you were in another room. What's up?"

I chuckle a bit and look away from them. "It's nothing. It just," I quickly start thinking of a lie to throw out and decide to just blurt out the first thing that comes to my mind. "I was just thinking about the rumor Tyler and Marcel told me about earlier. About a killer."

The second I say that, Lui starts laughing again. "Oh god, so you have heard the rumors too?! Aren't they fucking ridiculous?"

I blink and just stare at him with possibly the dumbest look on my face. "What do you mean? I thought the police were-"

"Nah," David interrupts me as he shakes his head. "There have been murders, but there's no way it was all done by one guy."

"And the bullshit people have come up with," Brian adds in. "Cults, vampires, zombies. It's all a big fucking joke. If anything, these murders were gang shit from the city that made its way here."

"You of all people shouldn't believe this crap, Evan," Lui finishes up. "I mean, one of the fucking rumors going around about the 'killer' is that Brock has been behind all of it. Do you really think Brock is capable of killing someone, let alone kill around twenty people!"

"Of course **YOU** guys would think that," we then hear a girl say before she walks over, swinging her hips from side to side. The second I even see her, I know she's only here to cause trouble. Not even just because of her words, but because she's dressed up as a fucking Playboy bunny, complete with an ass only a surgeon could give. "You guys were his friends, and possibly his accompanists. Of course all of YOU would say that he's a harmless bastard."

"Or maybe it's because he actually is a harmless bastard and you guys are just reaching," Lui replies, rolling his eyes. "There's no proof that Brock is behind anything."

"And there's no proof that he isn't behind anything. However, it is pretty funny that the killings started right after he disappeared, don't you think?" She then looks over to me and gives me a smirk. "It is good to finally see that you weren't one of his victims too, Evan."

"Alright," Brian then says, standing up and walking straight up to her. "You can be an annoying ass bitch all you want to us, but it's been months since we've seen Evan, and I'm not going to stand by and let your bullshit theories get in the way on him having a good time. So, if I see you anywhere near him tonight, they are going to find another body tomorrow morning. Only thing, it's going to be a slut, and I'm going to be the one walking into the police station with a big, cheeky smile on my face, happily taking myself to jail knowing you're going to be burning in hell."

I see fear instantly hit her as she stares into Brian's eyes, but quickly disappear as she clears her throat. "Whatever third-wheelie. You guys are all just pissy because you know it's all true."

"Not even close," Lui groans. "We're "pissy" because you guys come to us all the time, asking us about someone we've been missing more months and turning around, saying he's a killer! Imagine if you're fucking brother went missing for months and people did that to you! You wouldn't be happy to see someone like you coming up to you, now would you?!"

"I wouldn't have to worry about that, because my brother isn't a fucking monster!"

"You know what," I quickly yell out, already annoyed and ready to punch someone, so I know I need to get out of this now before someone starts swinging. I look back over to Lui and David, who are both still sitting on the couch. "It was nice seeing you guys again, but I think I'm just going to go back and hang out with Craig for a bit." I then look over to the girl and say, "I could use the fresh air. The stench of bleach, rotting plastic, and cheap perfume is starting to get to me." 

I then start to walk away as Lui, Brian, and David start to laugh and the girl just gasps at my words. Not really like it matters much, but I did enjoy the look on her face. 

Anyways, after I walk out of the room, I start making my way down the hall and down the stairs. I was never really a drinker before, but I would honestly be lying in this moment if I were to say that I wasn't just a little tempted to have a drink after hearing that girl upstairs. So, as I walk into the kitchen, I look over to the island to see what drinks there are, but I have to do a double take when I notice something... or someone.

While scanning the drinks, I see a taller, possibly older man walking by them, and I can't seem to take my eyes off of him once they're on him. Tall, short hair, possibly muscular, though it's hard to tell from the blue hoodie he's wearing, but what catches my attention the most are his eyes. When he was walking by me, he turned his head slightly towards me, and although I couldn't see his face because of the hockey mask he was wearing, his bright blue eyes stuck out like the stars in a moonless night.

My heart starts beating just a little bit faster as I watch him walk through the kitchen, and walk out to possibly join everyone at the bonfire. I suddenly feel awkward for staring, but I just couldn't help myself. _Who is that guy?_

After a little bit, I snap back to reality and walk outside, forgetting about the idea of getting a drink. Instead, I just walk straight to the bonfire and sit down next to Craig, who was chatting with Tyler and some girl with glasses and piercings. Tyler instantly tries to drag me into the conversation the three of them were having, but I wasn't really paying too much attention. Instead, my eyes traveling all over the crowd, trying to find the guy I saw inside.

I feel a bit crushed after I look around for a bit. He wasn't in this crowd... Then where- Just as the question started coming to my mind, I feel someone's eyes on me, which causes me to slowly look over my shoulder. It was by doing this that I finally found him. He was leaning against Craig's house, chatting with some guy dressed in a red hoodie with his red painted red. They were looking over to us... His eyes were on me.

Feeling my face heat up from the thought, I quickly turn back and silently start praying that my face isn't bright red right now. I then take a deep breath to calm myself before I turn to Criag, Tyler, and the girl, and I actually try to talk to them this time. After possibly five minutes, I look out through the corner of my eye and see that the two are still standing by the house, and the guy with blue eyes is still staring at me.

"Hey Craig," I whisper, not wanting the others to hear me. He looks over and leans in closer so we could hear each other. "Who were those guys by the house?"

I watch as he stretches and twists his back, trying not to make it look obvious that he's looking over to the guys before he whispers back, "I have no idea."

"What do you mean you have no idea?! This is your party!"

He chuckles a bit before saying, "Well I kind of posted the invite to this party online, so anyone could come."

"Why would you do that? You always made these parties for friends and classmates?"

"Yeah, but that was before people were too scared to leave their homes. I just wanted the party to feel as big as it normally is. Look, why don't you go talk to them?"

"What?"

"Don't you "what" me," he then says, wiggling his eyebrows. "You wouldn't be asking who they were if you weren't interested in getting to know them, if you know what I'm sayin'."

I laugh and push Craig. "I'm asking because their's staring at us, you fucker."

We both laugh a bit, cause Tyler and the girl, I think Craig called her Sami, to ask us what we were laughing about. Craig tells them, which makes them both straight up look over to the two. The second the two guys realize that we noticed them, they look away from us and start walking into the house.

I see Tyler scrunch up his nose and stare at the two guys. "I feel like I know one of those guys."

"From where," Craig asks.

"I don't fucking know. Maybe from one of my five classes."

As they start to bicker back and forth, Sami rolls her eyes and stands up, walking around and over to me. "So you're the Evan these guys had been talking about for so long."

I chuckle a bit and rub the back of my neck. "Yeah."

"I've been wanting to meet you for the longest time. These guys have been talking you up since I've met them."

"Really?"

"Yeah," she then says before she looks towards the house. "Hey, why don't you go talk to those guys you were talking about?"

"What?"

"Look, I saw the way you were looking at one of them when they were walking away. I'm not sure which one, but it wouldn't hurt to go talk to them. Besides, the guys told me how close you were with the guy that disappeared. Don't you think he would have wanted you to go out and try to meet other people."

I feel my face heat up a bit and I look away from her. "I really don't-"

"Look, I can help you make the first move. Just tell me who to talk to and we can get you talking to the one you were checking out. Even if you don't get the guy, maybe you guys can at least be friends."

I bite my lip, feeling my stomach start to twist into knots. "Why do you want me to do this so badly?"

"Honestly?" I look back to her and nod. "When the guys told me about you and Brock, I saw something in all of their eyes that just screamed how much they missed you guys. They told me about how they went looking for Brock all summer and how they had messaged you almost every single day and how you never answered them. When I saw them yesterday, they seemed more tired and lost, but, seeing them now with you just sitting next to them, I can see a light in their eyes that I never saw before. I want them to be happy like this more often, and I want to get to see you more so I can get to know the person these guys all spoke so highly about. It may sound a bit selfish on my part, but a large part of me is hoping that if you could be just a little happier, even if it is just making friends with a guy you think is cute, maybe you will be more willing to come out."

I look down and nervously bite my lip... _That doesn't sound selfish at all... **I was the selfish one hurting everyone else...**_

"If you're not comfortable with the idea, I understand. It's just-"

"I'll try."

"What?"

I look back up to her and gently rub my arm. "I said, I'll try to do this. I'm not really the type to reach out to new people, but if it's for my friends... I'm at least willing to try."

She instantly smiles and gives me a tight hug before she whispers, "Thank you," into my ear. Then, grabbing my hand, she pulls me up and tells Craig and Tyler that we were going inside to grab a couple of drinks before she drags me back to the house. 

Once inside, she runs into the living room, where everyone was dancing to the still extremely loud music, and she grabs the arm of a girl with long blond hair and a plaid shirt and asks her if she had seen the guys we were looking for. After a couple of seconds, she comes back to me and she tells me that one of the two were seen leaving the house about a minute ago, just before we decided to come in. This starts to worry me a little since she never says which guy had left.

She then tells me that she thinks it's best if we split up to look for the guy and then she gives me her number, telling me to text her if I find him. I force a smile and nod and tell her that I'd go check upstairs before splitting off with her. Once upstairs, I walk back to the room, where everyone was playing games in, and I no longer see Lui, Brian, or David in there. I let out a sigh and start walking back towards the way I came, but stop when I see one of the bedroom doors open. 

When Lui dragged me up here before, I noticed that all of the doors were closed, and I could have sworn Craig told me before that he always made sure to lock all the bedroom doors to keep people from going into them. So obviously, this causes me to raise an eyebrow.

I walk up to the door and put my ear to the crack, trying to hear if anyone is in there, but all I can really hear is the bass coming from the music downstairs. Slowly, I put my hand on the doorknob and start to push the door open. When I look into the room, I can't really see much due to how dark it is, but I can see the curtains moving from the other side of the room, telling me that the glass door to the balcony is open. Curiosity quickly gets the better of me, causing me to walk into the dark room and towards the swaying curtains.

I slowly reach out, grabbing one of them and swinging it to the side, revealing the completely empty balcony. From just right here, I can see the lights from the town and the moon shining down on the house like a spotlight. I take a deep breath when I see this and shake my head. My heart is pounding for some reason; then again, I don't know what I was expecting to find.

Not really wanting to go back into the party, I step out onto the balcony and walk up to the railing. I feel a breeze pick up a little, causing me to shiver a bit, but I honestly enjoy it at the same time.

Sami's words start to echo in my head. The way she talked about how everyone was when I was gone... How much pain did I put them through... When Brock disappeared, I never thought about how it was going to affect them. I... I only thought about how it was going to affect me. How losing my best friend after losing my dad was destroying me... But it had to have been killing them at the same time.

While I was locked in my room, they went out, searching for him. While I was spending months in bed, they never stopped believing that he was out there. While... While they were out in the heat of summer, looking for someone the police didn't see as important, I abandoned them...

While I was throwing myself a stupid pity party, they were doing something... all the while, they were missing another friend when they needed as much support to help get through something so scary.

I sigh and look down, seeing the stone path that led up to the front door. Sami said she wanted me to talk to that guy because she wanted me to be happier. She wanted me to come out more often so that the others could be happy too... _What am I doing?_

I look up to the moon and start thinking about this past year. I had been so stupid and so selfish. The fact that I couldn't see that until now only made this all worse. The fact that I caused so much heartache makes me feel sick to my stomach... The fact that I didn't do more to look for Brock and allowed myself to fall into this state of mind that he hated seeing me in so much that he forced me to take a shower even though I still had my clothes on makes me feel like... like I've failed him... Not even just him... I failed everyone. My dad. My friends... My self...

With this realization in mind, I take one last deep breath before I turn around to walk back out into the party. However, before I can walk back into the bedroom, I let out a gasp and jump back when I come face to face with someone, and am frozen in place by the sight of his shining, bright blue eyes.


	4. Come Home With Me

My heart slowly starts to go back to its regular beat as I stare at the man before me. _What is he doing here?_

"Oh come on, I know I'm wearing a mask, but I can't be that scary," he laughs before he steps out onto the balcony. As he steps out, he reaches behind him and shuts the door to the bedroom. "You don't mind if I join you out here, do you?"

I gulp and shake my head, feeling my heart start to pound harder and harder in my chest, causing its beats to get so loud that I can hear them and it starts to rival the music from the first floor. He walks over to the railing and leans over it before he reaches into his hoodie pocket and pulls out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. 

He slides a cigarette through one of the holes in his mask and lights it up, pulling it out a few seconds later and blowing out a stream of smoke from the same hole. He turns his head slightly and holds out the pack towards me. "You smoke?" I shake my head. "You don't mind if I do, do you," he then asks me as he slides his lighter and the pack back into his hoodie pocket. I shake my head again, which causes him to start laughing. "Are you fucking mute then?"

I chuckle a bit and clear my throat, turning back around and leaning against the railing. "No. I... I'm just shocked that someone else came out here."

He laughs again and takes another drag from his cigarette before he says, "Well, I saw the bedroom door and curtain open. Thought this would be a nice place to get a smoke without having a shit ton of people judging me. Couldn't help but to check out the view before I walked out though."

I chuckle and look back up to the beautiful night sky. "It is really beautiful, isn't it?"

"Definitely. Stands out even more in the moonlight, and away from the crowd."

I'm a bit confused at first, but then I start to think about how I saw him when I turned around. His eyes... they were on me.

Once I remember that, I feel my face heat up and I turn my head away from him, causing him to chuckle. "What's wrong? Why are you shying away," he asks in a playful tone.

I look over to him and quickly look away when I see his eyes... _those eyes... say so much..._

"I'm Del," he then says, finally taking his eyes off of me for a second before he takes another drag from his cigarette. "And you?"

"I'm Evan," I tell him, still keeping my eyes off of him.

"You from around here?"

I chuckle and nod my head. "Yeah. I live just on the other side of town. And you?"

He shakes his head. "Nah, I'm from the city. But I had a place just outside of town. Bought it so I had a place to stay when I want to see my friend, who does live around here."

I laugh a bit. "Why not stay with your friend when you come to see him?"

"Because, I love the bastard like a brother, but if I spend too much time with him, I'm going to want to kill him." His comment makes me laugh a bit more. "You know, you have a really cute laugh."

After he says that, I instantly start blushing and start to shy away again. Out the corner of my eye, I see a small flash of light fly away, and when I look down towards the stone path, I see Del's cigarette hit the path, sending out hundreds of little embers out like a sworn of firefly lifting off into the night sky. After seeing that, I feel him take my chin in between his thumb and finger before he turns me around and makes me look at him. I'm left speechless as I look into his stunning blue eyes again, and watch as he lifts his mask up, pulling it off of his face.

As soon as his mask is off, I'm instantly taken back. This man is handsome as hell.

"Stop shying away like that. I want to see your pretty face."

I could only imagine how red my face had to be at this point, but honestly, I didn't care. Everything about this moment felt like the first amazing dream I've had in a long year of nightmares. And I wanted it to continue so badly.

Without realizing it, I was already starting to lean into him, which makes him laugh again. His laugh... it sounds mad. It sounds crazy. It scares me a bit, causing me to snap back to reality and jump back. 

As soon as he realizes what had happened, he covered his mouth and looked back at me. "Fuck, sorry."

"Wha-"

"It's nothing... That's just, how I've always laughed. I know, it's really weird and it makes me sound, well, insane. I've heard everything from I sound like a mad clown to a serial killer, and I get that."

"I wouldn't say that," I quickly interrupt him, starting to feel bad for how I reacted. I mean, if that's his laugh, he can't exactly help it. 

"I'm not saying that's what you think... but it is nice knowing that you don't think of it like that."

I give him a little smile and lean against the railing. "I was just... not expecting your laugh to sound like that. It's different."

"Different as in weird?"

I chuckle and look away from him, towards the bedroom. "I guess a little weird, but it's unique. Definitely something to help people remember you by."

He chuckles again. "Oh believe me," he then says before he walks in front of me and places his hands on either side of me. I look up to him, locking my eyes with his, and I can feel myself shrinking from just the hunger in his clouded eyes. "I'm not exactly a forgettable person. Come home with me, and I can promise you, you'll have a night you'll remember for the rest of your life."

I feel my face heat up, but I'm unable to turn away this time. The hunger in his eyes is just so... hypnotic in a way. I feel like a mouse being hypnotized by a snake. I'm in a trance... all because of those eyes.

I'm so far gone that I don't know what to say or do. So, with a somewhat shaky voice, I tell him, "I... I'm n-normally not th-the type to do th-that."

"That's a shame," he says as he slides his hand onto my hip. "I'm only here for the weekend. I don't know when's the next time I'll be able to come back."

"How... how old are you?"

"Twenty-five. And you? Please tell me you're fucking legal," he then says as he pulls his hand off of my hip.

I laugh and gently push him, putting my hand on his chest. "I am. I'm twenty."

"Great," he instantly says, putting his hand back on my hip, gently rubbing it. "Then there's no reason for you not to come over."

"I don't even know you."

"We know more about each other than a lot of people hooking up tonight." I laugh and look away, which makes him grab my chin to make me look at him again. "Come on, let me give you a night you'll never forget."

Before I can say anything, he leans in and presses his lips again mine. I hesitate a bit, however, his lips are just so soft taste so sweet. I just had to kiss him back.

Slowly, I slide my hands up and wrap them around his neck, which makes him pull my waist close to him, pressing my body against his, and he moves his other hand to the back of my head, holding it in place. He pushes me back, pressing me into the railing and sliding his leg in between my legs. I gasp when I feel his thigh start to rub against me, adding just enough pressure to make it feel good. While my mouth was open from the gasp, he quickly shoves his tongue into my mouth and has it start to dance with mine. It doesn't take long after he starts to do all of this to me that I start to moan.

My body starts to shake as I feel myself melt into his arms, but I try to keep myself calm. I'm enjoying every second of this, but I can't... no matter how badly I want to at this second, I just can't.

After a while, he finally pulls away, allowing us to finally breathe. I can feel my knees getting weak from what his leg was doing alone, but I fight to keep myself up. "Come on, Evan," he continues before he leans in again, only this time, he brings his head down to my neck. "Let me take you home." He then attaches his lips to my neck, nibbling and sucking on all the right spots, making me moan even more than before.

I never thought someone could make me this weak, this needy, or want something so much. I want to say no. I should be saying stop. I should push him away and make it clear that I'm not going to do anything with this guy that I only just met... but I can't. If his eyes were hypnotic, that his lips are like venom. It is weakening my body to the point that my mind is getting clouded.

"Del," I moan, digging my nails into his arms. He hums and pulls away from my neck, coming back up to my face, pressing his forehead against mine and locking his eyes with mine. I know what he wants me to say... and the cocky bastard knows that I'm going to say it. "Let's get out of here."

He chuckles and smirks at me. "I was hoping you'd say that."

Keeping his arm wrapped around my waist, he backs away and pulls me after him, leading me back to the house. He pulls me close to him and he opens the door, pushing me into the house and he follows after, shutting the door behind him. He slips his mask back on before he grabs my waist again, leading me through the room and then the house, getting us to the porch. It's only once we walk out and start to step off the front porch that I remember about Tyler and the others.

Guilt admittedly starts to sink in and I quickly step back, causing Del to stop as well and look back to me. "What's wrong?"

"I came here with my friends. I should tell them that I'm leaving or-"

"Why don't you text them," he quickly interrupts, his eyes seemingly getting a bit bigger when he says this.

I raise an eyebrow. "Wouldn't that be a bit rude? I mean, I came with them."

"But you're an adult. You don't need to go everywhere with them. Besides, don't you think they would do the same thing if they had the chance to go home with someone."

I look down and think about what he had just said... _Would they do the same?... Would they ditch me for someone too?..._

Taking a deep breath, I reach into my pocket and pull out my phone and quickly start to type up a text. As I type, he starts to walk away from me, causing me to make the text short and straight to the point. _**"Going home with someone. Text you tomorrow."**_

As soon as I finish it, I look up and see Del bending over and... picking up something off the ground?

Confused, I walk over to him just in time to see him shove something into his hoodie pocket. "What's that," I then ask, scaring him a bit and causing him to turn around to me.

"None," he quickly says with a smile. "Just a quarter," he then adds before he wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me close to him again. "You ready to go," he then asks with a smirk.

I smile and nod, however, I can't help but notice the strong smell of smoke suddenly coming from him. Before I could question him, he starts to walk away from me, taking my hand before he leads me to his truck. He unlocks the door and holds open the passenger door for me, helping me into the large truck before shutting the door. As he walks around, I quickly take notice that he is walking around towards the back. I look through the side mirror and watch him as he walks alongside the truck. Then, I see him dig his hand into his hoodie pocket and pull something out, throwing it into the bed.

This confuses me, but I decide not to look too much into it. I mean, it didn't look shiny in any way, so it couldn't be dangerous... _But what was that?_

I take a deep breath and shut my eyes, trying to calm myself down and relax. I have to be overthinking all of this. I'm just... I'm just nervous.

I wasn't lying about never doing something like this before... not to say I've never had sex before. I've just... never went home with someone I literally just met. This is scary. This is dangerous... but, I need to relax. I've come this far, it's too late for me to turn back now.

As I try to calm myself down, Del opens the driver side door and jumps in, starting up the truck before he takes off his mask and looks over to me with a smile. "You ready to go?"

I smile back to him and nod before I look out the window and watch as we start to move. Within a minute, the house and all those cars, all those people, are far gone. Out of sight... but not out of mind... _Maybe I should text Tyler to let him know who I'm with and where we're going._

I feel a hand suddenly slide onto my thigh, making me look over to Del and smile before I scoot closer to him. "You okay," Del asks me, keeping his eye on the road.

"I'll be fine," I reply before I lean closer to him and I start to nibble on his neck.

He and I continue to flirt back and forth, trying to set the mood as much as we can before getting to his house; and as we flirt, I finally start to relax. After about twenty minutes, we finally get to his house.

I reach over to open my door, but before I can touch it, Del grabs my arm and pulls me back, wrapping his arm around my waist and pulling me in for a kiss. I moan a little into the kiss and wrap my arms around his neck, pulling myself even closer to him.

My hands start to travel up and down his body, pulling at his hoodie. Grabbing the zipper, I pull it all the way down to the bottom and start to run my hands along his body, feeling the thin tank top he was wearing under it. I feel his hands come off of me for a second, and soon we break apart as he accidentally hits his horn. Laughing, he leans back against his seat and covers his face with his hand. "Guess I'm getting a little too eager," he jokes before he turns his head and looks back to me.

I blush, "I think that was my bad. I should have waited until we were inside the house before I started doing that."

"Let's just get back to where we were," he then says, placing his hand against my cheek.

He leans in and starts kissing my lips and slowly makes his way down to my neck. As he does this, his hand slides up and down my thigh, inching it's way closer and closer to me. I bite my lip and moan as he does this, my body wanting more and more attention. Practically begging.

However, before we can get any further, he stops and pulls away, finally turning off the car and telling me to come out. I don't waste a second. Throwing the car door open, I jump out and slam the door shut and follow after him as he runs to the door.

Once I catch up, he takes my arm and spins me around, pushing me roughly into the door and looking into my eyes with a hungry, dominant expression that just screams that he is in complete control. I gulp at this, but at the same time, the fear this look gives me makes my body start to feel weak. It makes me crave him more than I would have ever thought.

I bite my lip and he wastes no time to attack my neck, biting it even harder and making me moan loudly towards the pain. I could feel my senses starting to turn off one by one; however, before my hearing could shut down, I swear I could hear something... It sounded like... like something was moving around in his house.

Embarrassment quickly takes over me and I push him away from me before I look back towards the door. Something is telling me that something just... something isn't right?

"What's wrong," Del asks.

"Do you have roommates," I instantly ask, worried for his answer.

"No? I live alone."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I mean, I have a dog, but other than that, nothing."

"Really?"

"Yes; why are you asking me this," he now asks, an annoyed tone behind him.

"Because, I think I heard something coming from inside your house."

He chuckles again and shakes his head. "I'm telling you, that's my dog. He probably just wants to go out or he just wants attention." He places his hand on the other side of my face. "No matter which it is, I can deal with it tomorrow."

He then moves back in and starts kissing me again. In a matter of seconds, I start to relax again. As soon as he sees this, he grabs me by my waist and pulls me close to him, breaking our kiss as he opens the door.

He then starts walking in, leading me in backward. "I plan to keep my word, Evan. Tonight is going to be a night you'll remember for the rest of your short life."

When he says this, he pushes me into the house. I look back to his face and see a twisted smile on his face just before I feel something hit the back of my head. Within seconds, my body hits the ground, and the world is turning dark. I hear footsteps echo throughout the house as someone... or maybe multiple people, walk over to me...

_What's.... happening..._


	5. The Nightmare Begins

***Trigger Warning***

A hand gently runs against the side of my face. It's so cold and rough... it feels tired and... heavy in a way.

Something cold and metal rubs against my lips as I feel the hand push my hair back. I try to open my eyes, but I'm in so much pain... and... I just want to sleep...

"I'm so sorry, Evan... I hope you get out of here... I don't want you to have to go through all of this..."

_I... I know that voice..._

"... God... get him out of here... please..."

_That... can't be..._

"I'm sorry..."

...

_Brock?_

***

As I start to open my eyes, I can still feel a great amount of pain coming from the back of my head. I try to move my hand to the source of the pain to feel it, but stop when I notice something else that's wrong, causing my eyes to shoot open and dart to my hands. They're... they're chained together!

I quickly sit up and follow the chain, seeing that it's somewhat long, but at the end... it's connected to a stone wall. As soon as I even notice the wall, I start looking around the room I'm in and I quickly notice two things. The first being that the room in almost completely empty. The second thing... being a body facing away from me on the other side of the room. I can't tell if the person is dead or asleep, but I'm scared to find out.

I look up towards my left and see a small window with bars on it, and to my right, right next to me, I see a single wooden step and the end of a railing. I crawl over to the step and peek over, only to see a staircase that leads to a closed door. I look back to the railing and start to crawl over to it, but stop when I hear something. It sounds like a lock being messed with.

Silently freaking out, I quickly crawl back to where I was and lay back down, shutting my eyes, pretending to be asleep. Moments later, I hear two sets of footsteps rush down and run to the other side of the room. I open one eye and look over just as the two run up to the body.

"No," one of the two says before he gets down on his knees and rolls the body on his back. "You mother fucker," he then yells out, telling me who exactly that is. That's Del.

"I told you," the second guy then says before putting his hands on his hips. "When I came down here, I saw that the fucker wrapped his chain around his neck and was leaning away from the wall."

"Who the fuck kills themselves like that?!"

"Someone desperate apparently. But he never showed any fucking signs, I didn't think he was going to do this shit!"

"God fuck. And we spent all this time looking into shit for this game." I see Del start shaking his head a little before he pulls his arm back. I have to fight my instinct to keep myself from curling up when I then see him start punching the body in front of him. "You fucking son of a bitch! Why the fuck did you have to ruin our fucking fun?! You mother-"

"Delirious, calm down," the other guy then says, grabbing his arm. He then goes down onto his knees next to Del and wraps both of his arms around Del's arm. "Beating him isn't going to bring him back. We'll just get what we want from him and use what we had planned next week. Until then, we'll just have to keep an eye on this fucker to make sure he doesn't do the same shit."

Del sighs and turns to the other guy. "Fine... and you're right. We'll take this as a lesson."

I open my other eye and watch in shock as Del lifts up hand up and gently caresses the other guy before he leans in and gives him a kiss. It looks much sweeter than any of the kisses he had given me, and I can see a much sweeter smile grow on his face as the other guy kisses him back. The other guy then let's go of Del's arm and wraps them around his neck, making Del giggle and break their kiss.

"Easy there, Ohmie. We don-" as he was about to finish speaking, his eyes moved over to me, causing him to stop as well as my heart. I then see a twisted smile form on his lips as darkness cast over his shining blue eyes. "Nevermind. Look who's finally awake."

The other guy turns his body a little to look back to me, his hazel eyes turning just as evil as Del's and he smiles, which made me feel twice as uncomfortable. Keeping their eyes on me, they both stand up and turn completely towards me. My body starts to shake as I see them slowly walk over to me, their eyes and smiles never changing or moving away from me. Out of fear, I sit up and start to scoot back until my back is pressed against the cold stone wall, making Del laugh.

They then kneel down so that they could be eye leveled with me before Del asks, "You have a nice nap, Evan?"

I can feel my heart pounding so hard that I swear that it's only a few seconds away from break out of my rib cage. I can't control my shaking. I try to speak, but I can't. I don't have any control over my body.

"Quiet one," the hazel-eyed guy says before he reaches over to me. I flinch, but before I could move away, Del grabs the chains on my wrist and pulls me forward, bringing me down to my hands and knees. Groaning from the stinging pain from the chains, I look up just in time to see the hazel-eyed guy reach over to me again, brushing my hair, pushing some of the long pieces behind my ear. "I thought you said you got this one from a party. He doesn't look like a party boy."

"I didn't say he was." Hazel eyes then turned his head and just looked at Del with an unamused expression. "What," Del laughs. "I didn't say he was. He was like this when I first walked up to him. Thought the fucker was mute."

"So he's shy? What the hell was he doing at a party?"

"He was hanging around a group, so he had to have been dragged there."

I quickly start to get annoyed at the fact that they are talking about me like this in front of me. However, my fear keeps me planted in the same position for much longer than I would like. Hazel eyes then stood up and walked around me before he kneels back down, this time beside me and he starts to slide his hand along my chest and stomach. When I try to push myself up to get away from him, Del stops me by pulling on my chains again, making me slam my elbows into the stone floor. I want to scream out, but the fear is keeping it all in.

"He's skinny as hell. You really think he's going to last?"

"I just want to see what happens when we push him. I'm sure after we look into him, we'll find some shit to push him just enough to make him snap."

"If you say so," Hazel eyes then says, standing back up and moving over to lean against the wall. "But I'm pretty sure once I get my replacement, he's dead. I mean, just look at him. He's shaking like a fucking chihuahua and hasn't even asked any of the obvious questions."

I look up to him before looking down. I want to make this guy shut up so badly. But, what if it's just giving him whatever he wants... _What do they want? What's the point of this? Is this just to scare me or some shit?... but then why do it like this?_

I try to swallow my fear and shut my eyes tightly as I force out the first words I've spoken since I got knocked out. "Wh-what is all of this?"

"Oh, he talks," hazel eyes laughed, pushing himself off of the wall and walking over to kneel back down next to Del again. He smiles at me and grabs my chin, making me look up to them. "But I don't think I heard you. Why don't you speak again?"

I can still feel my body shaking, however, I force myself to say, "What is all of this? Who are you, and why am I chained up?"

Del laughs a bit before he slides his arm around hazel eyes. "Well, to quickly get your second question out of the way; this is my boyfriend, Ohm."

My eyes widen completely in shock. "Boyfriend?"

"Awe, what's wrong, honey," Ohm then says, turning his body slightly and wrapping his arms around Del's neck. "Did you really think you were going to get with Delirious?"

"D-Delirious?"

"That's right," Delirious then says with a smirk. "I didn't want to risk someone overhearing us, so I had to give a fake name. And to keep you from talking in case something goes wrong, we're going to keep it that way."

"And to answer your other questions," Ohm then says, his twisted smile from before plastered on his face. "We're doing this because we want to play a little game, and you're chained up because we want you to be a part of it."

"But we can't have you trying to run away from us. That would ruin our fun."

"A game? Fun? What the hell are you guys talking about?!"

Ohm chuckles before he says, "You'll see soon enough. For now, you'll just have to sit and wait. The bastard you were going to play against," he starts before turning his head around to look at the body that was behind them. He then groans loudly before turning back, his smile finally falling into an unamused expression. "He decided he didn't want to play anymore."

"What?"

"I think that's enough talking for now," Delirious then says before he drops my chains and stands up, stretching his back. Since he is no longer holding my chains, I finally get to sit up, however, I don't move anywhere. Instead, I just watch as he turns away from me and walks over to the body. "I'm getting bored of all this talking, and I think it's time Ohm and I went to have our own fun for tonight. If you want, Ohmie, you can answer any of his other questions after I go back to the city on Monday."

Ohm jumps up and pushes his arms behind his back, that smile quickly jumping back to his face. "Sounds like a plan, Delly," he then said in an overly sweet tone.

Just watching all of this quickly makes me sick. My mind has finally realized that I'm in actual trouble, and I don't know what to do. I don't know where I am or how far out of town I am. I don't even know who these guys are or what their real names are. I've never seen either of them before, but that doesn't mean much coming from me...

Delirious bends over and I see him pick up the body, throwing him over his shoulder. The second I see his face, I immediately feel my heartbreak, my stomach twist, and vomit shoot up my throw, but I hold back on throwing up. _Brock!_

My facial expression seems to be enough for Ohm, because before Delirious could turn around, Ohm yells out, "Hold up!" 

I look up to him, trying so hard not to let any tears build up, but most likely failing. "Baby," he then says, his twisted smile getting bigger. "Come over here and drop that son of a bitch right here."

"What," Delirious asks, just turning around to us.

"Just trust me."

My eyes dart to Delirious the second I hear him start to walk closer to me, and as soon as he is next to Ohm, he drops Brock in front of me. I can't hold back my gasp nor my tears as soon as I see my best friend in front of me. His skin is so much paler than the last time I saw him, he has dark circles under his eyes, which are bulging from his skull, his face looks more sunken in, and without the tension from his muscles, his jaw falls open and droops to the side, making him look like something out of a horror movie.

However, Ohm laughs when he sees this reaction from me. "Oh god, you know this guy, don't you?!"

Delirious kneels down and just stares at me for a few seconds, studying my expression and the look in my eyes. Once he's done, he smiles and laughs with Ohm before he grabs my chain again and pulls my hands away from my face, almost making me fall on top of Brock. "You do know this guy! Come on, tell us! Who is he? What's his name?!"

I turn away from them and shake my head. "I don't know this guy! Why the fuck are you making me look at him?!"

"Yeah fucking right," Delirious laughs before he walks around and grabs my head, forcing me to turn and look at Brock. Tears fill my eyes and I have to shut them. I can't look at him like this. "You wouldn't be crying over someone you don't know. Now tell us!"

I stay silent and keep my eyes shut.

"You know, that would make more sense as to why he would just suddenly kill himself," Ohm then laughs. "You must have been someone he really cared about. Someone he loved. Someone he wanted to save."

When he says all of this, I feel my heart start to break more and more. I slowly open my eyes and look back to them, meeting with Delirious' knowing stare. "We know that you were someone he wanted to protect by any means necessary. This guy has been here for months now, and the only thing he's done is starved himself, which Ohm was trying to get him to stop doing. So, why don't you stop lying and just tell us what we want to hear."

I bite my cheek, feeling my stomach twisting into knots at the thought of Brock killing himself in such a horrible way... and he did it for me... _**but why?**_

Gulping, I hang my head and tell them, "His name is Brock... and he was my best friend since we were kids."

"Oooh," Ohm then says with too much enthusiasm in his voice. "Childhood friends! God, that would have been so good!"

"So this son of a bitch killed himself to protect his best friend. Awe, so sweet."

"But it could also be such a waste." I look back to the two men and see them both smiling at me with those horrifying twisted smiles. "I'd hate to see his sacrifice to get thrown away, wouldn't you, babe?"

"Yeah, it would. I mean to have someone give up their life for you and to have their best friend give up so easily so soon after; it would be such a waste. Imagine what Brock here could have done with his life. Imagine what his parents are going to be thinking when they find out what happened to their son. Imagine what everyone is going to think when they find out that he's gone. Only to have his best friend give up not very long after."

"I bet you if he knew that you were going to give up so soon after his death, he wouldn't have done shit. After all, why kill yourself when the person you're killing yourself for is just going to die soon after."

I can feel my body start to shake as they talk more and more. What exactly is causing me to do so in unknown to me... but all I want is for them to get out of my face.

Thankfully, after mocking me and my friend's death a little more, Delirious grabs Brock and throws him over his shoulder again before he and Ohm stand up and finally leave me... Leaving me chained to a wall... in a stoned room... only a few feet away from where my best friend had just killed himself...

Slowly, my tears start to build back up more and more before I finally break down and start sobbing into my chained up hands. I finally know where Brock as been for so long, and now I'm going to have to go through whatever hell he had to go through. I can't even imagine what he had to have gone through to make him starve himself or to actually kill himself. I can't imagine the pain he must of felt... 

I look down at my hands and look at the chain holding them together. Just like the same chain that Brock had used...

_... I should have just stayed home..._


	6. Ask Questions

My eyes are burning more and more as I simply look up to the only window this prison has. The sun came up some time ago, but I have no idea what time it is, nor how long I've been here. If last night was the same night I went out with the guys, then I guess it would be Saturday morning... Or maybe it's the afternoon. How much time has gone by and how long I've been crying is unknown to me. All I do know is that I'm tired, thirsty, and I want to go home so badly.

I can hear chirping coming from the birds flying around, which honestly sounds like music at this point. For a long while after the two left me down here, all I heard was the sounds of my own sobbing bouncing off of the walls and the buzzing from the lights. However, that was only for possibly a few hours. Halfway through the night, the lights shut off, leaving me in the dark with only the moonlight beaming in through the bars of the window to keep me company.

After a long while of just staring at out the window, I hear the door creak open and a familiar voice say, "No, Tiny. Stay."

I gulp and push myself back until my back is against the stone wall, and I continue to follow the wall until I'm trapped in a corner like a scared puppy. With fear being the only thing coursing through my veins, I start wishing I could shrink to the size of an ant and I could crawl far away from here. My eyes painfully make their way over to the few steps I can see from my little corner, and I can feel my heart beating faster and harder as I hear the squeaking of each step as the person walks down. It only took Ohm a few seconds to finally step into my view, but to me, it felt like a torturous month had gone by before my eyes.

Once he steps off the final step, he looks over to me and smiles at me. It's not like any of the smiles he and Delirious gave me last night. This one feels more friendly... but I don't buy it.

As he turns and starts to walk over to me, I quickly take notice of the tray of food in his hands. I can smell hot eggs and I can see a bottle of water on the tray. It makes my mouth water so much... with the horror movie shit show that happened yesterday, I didn't really think about if I was hungry. And now that I can see it coming towards me, it's hitting me like a truck... _Would it even be safe to eat anything that comes from these psychopaths?_

As soon as the question comes to mind, Ohm stops right in front of me and kneels down, placing the tray in between us. "I thought you might be hungry," he then says, his voice sounding much friendlier than from last night. It's calmer. Something you would want to listen to for an hour or two in a podcast.

_Why is he acting so different?_

Sliding the tray closer to me, I look down and see a small plate of scrambled eggs, a small bowl of fruit, and a bottle of water. I don't know if it's just from hunger or the smell, but even with the limited amount of food, it all looks so good... but this can't be safe to eat.

"I'm not hungry," I lie, turning my head away and pushing the tray back to him.

From the corner of my eye, I see his smile fall and I see those hazel eyes darken. "You really expect me to believe that?"

"I'm not expecting you to believe anything. I'm just telling you I'm not hungry."

"You know, it's been twelve hours since we locked you down here, right? And you know Delirious kept an eye on you at that party, and he told me you didn't eat shit there."

I raise an eyebrow and look over to him. "I didn't see him there until an hour after I even got there. How do you know I didn't eat a whole pizza by myself before we saw each other?"

"Because that wouldn't change how much time has passed. Your stomach would be done digesting that by the time you woke up last night, and it would be empty now."

I scrunch up my nose and look away from him again. "Doesn't change the fact that I'm not hungry."

I shut my eyes and start to silently pray that he would just leave, but instead, I hear him growl, annoyed by how stubborn I'm being. "Look, Evan," he growls at me, his anger quickly building. I open one eye and look back at him, seeing the anger on his face as clear as the tears in a newborn's eyes. "I know this fucking game. You think we poisoned the fucking food. I'm telling you now, it's fine. It's safe. Look."

He then grabs the fork off of the tray and stabs some of the eggs before putting it in his mouth. "See," he then says as he chews. "If this shit was poisoned, I wouldn't be doing this."

He then puts the fork back on the tray and pushes it back towards me. I scrunch up my nose again, however, I slowly grab the fork, the chains around my wrist being the only nose, besides the birds, to break the silence between Ohm and myself. Letting out a sigh, I start eating. The eggs are a little plain, but it's better than nothing.

Once I'm done eating, I put the fork back on the plate and push the tray back to him. I expect him to leave, however, he pushes it to the side and sits back a little bit, allowing himself to somewhat relax. His face still has traces of anger in it, but I can tell that he's trying to calm himself down.

"You've had more time to calm down since last night, so do you have any questions for me?"

I raise an eyebrow and give him a confused look. "What?"

"Look, normally our game will go on for a few hours to a few days, so what happened last night was really fucking boring, and because of it, you didn't even get to play the game. I expect you to be confused, so I want to at least let you in on what's going on here. So, ask a question."

I blink and just stare at him, confused.

This makes him snarl at me and I can see the annoyance quickly build up in his eyes. "Come on, you're telling me that your fucking friend had more questions than you did after he got to play our game, but you haven't done shit, and you have nothing?"

I shake my head. "No... I just don't know where to start when it comes to asking questions?"

"What," he asks, now confused.

"It's like you said, I don't know what happened last night. I woke up with a pounding headache, my best friend dead, and left in here for an entire night. So much has happened and... and I don't understand any of it. I don't know what's going on at all, what you mean by game... How do I ask questions for something I don't understand."

Ohm sighs and shakes his head. "Well, go over everything that's happened last night and just ask whatever comes to mind."

I look over and see a somewhat bored expression, telling me that he just wants me to entertain him or something... But how would me asking questions do that... What is he looking for from this?

Taking a deep breath, I start thinking about what had happened just a few hours ago and ask the first question that comes to mind. "Was Brock here the entire time?... The whole four months he was gone, was he here?"

"Yeah. He was."

"Why? Why did you guys take him?"

Ohm smiles and laughs a little before saying, "Because he was checking me out."

"What?"

"That's how Delirious and I pick our targets. After all, how are you going to get someone to come home with you if they aren't interested in you? I went to the same little party Brock was at, and the second he laid his eyes on me, I knew he wasn't going to be hard to bring back. And I was right. All it took was two drinks and he was practically putty in my hands."

I could feel the blood rush out from my face as I think back to what I think was last night. _The party... Delirious knew I was interested... Did I... Was it really that obvious that I was into him?... The room... Did he set all that up somehow?..._

He starts laughing a bit more as he just stares at me... He's enjoying my reaction... _But why?_

"Next question," he then states, his eyes staying locked with mine.

Shaking my head, I quickly think of another question. "What is this game you keep talking about? Why do you need me and why did you need Brock?"

"Well," he starts, looking away for a bit as he thinks of a way to answer me. "I guess the best way for me to explain this would be, that this is a little competition. Every week, Delirious and I hold a competition between two;" he then laughs a bit before he looks back at me and smirks, "unwilling competitors. Unfortunately, that's all I can tell you for now. The rest you'll learn when my next pick comes in."

"That doesn't answer my question, though."

"Well, it's more fun seeing the look on your face when you learn what you have to do that day."

Even though that doesn't explain much to me still, another gear started to click. Something comes to mind that finally helps me realize what he's doing. Why he's making me ask all of these questions. "You want me to ask you questions so you can scare me."

He laughs again. "I guess you aren't a complete idiot. You see, Delirious and I enjoy doing this for two different reasons, and while I can't tell you why he likes it;" he then stands up and walks closer to me before he roughly grabs my face and forces me to look up to him. "I enjoy seeing you boys struggle. I enjoy seeing you all shake. I enjoy seeing your blood rush from your face week after week as you-" he then stops himself. His smile drops a little but it just as quickly comes back as he stares into my eyes. "I enjoy knowing that I'm causing fear in you." He then lets go of my face and steps back.

I move my jaw a little, feeling a slight stinging pain from where he grabbed me. I then look up to him and see him just staring down at me with that smirk on his face. "But why?! Do you assholes get off to seeing people scared or some shit?! Why would you put people through this?!"

"I don't need a reason," he then says, shaking his head. "I just enjoy seeing the blood rush from people's faces. I enjoy knowing that I have more power than you."

"So you do this because you like having control?"

He looks away and thinks for a second before he shrugs. "I guess."

"Then why does-"

"I'm not going to tell you why Delirious likes doing this."

"Why not?"

"Because his reason is none of your business. Next question."

"But-"

"I said, next question," he says, his smirk dropping and his eyes turning colder as his stare turns into a glare. I could feel my blood turn to ice, and I quickly try to come up with a new question. However, before I could think of something, we hear the door creak open again, making us both look towards the stairs.

Shortly after, we see Delirious walk down the stairs and he looks towards Ohm. Ohm crosses his arms and turns to face Delirious. "Where'd you drop him?"

"About three miles away from where I picked up Evan. And no, no one saw me. The nearest neighbor was five miles away and everyone in that house was passed out."

"Perfect," he then says as he walks over to Delirious and loosely wraps his arms around his neck. I feel crushed as they lock their lips in what looks to be a sweet, loving kiss. One that makes Ohm slowly lifts his leg off the ground.

_He played me so hard..._

When they separate, Ohm turns back to me, but he keeps his eyes on Delirious as he walks back over to me. I start to feel a bit worried about what he is going to do, however, he doesn't do anything to me. Instead, he just bends over and picks up the tray, pushing the water bottle off of it to give it to me. After that, he walks back over to Delirious and turns back to me, allowing Delirious go wrap his arms around his waist and pull him closer.

"I'm just going to assume you don't have any more questions, so I'll leave ya alone for a while. I'll come back down tonight to feed you dinner."

"Don't forget to change his bandages as well, Ohmie. He may not be bleeding anymore, but we don't want him to die from an infection."

"Bandage," I repeat, confusion heavily laced in my voice.

"Have you not noticed that we wrapped up your head last night after knocking you out," Ohm asks, raising an eyebrow.

_Is that why my head has been so itchy today?_

Carefully and slowly, I start to lift up my hands and I bring them closer to the top of my head. The chains connected to them swing back and forth as I move them closer, but with how slowly I'm moving, it barely taps my nose once it's close enough to my face. I then start feeling around my forehead and instantly recognize the rough and bumpy texture that was replacing my skin.

"What did you guys do to me," I immediately yell out, worried about how they got this on me and bringing me back to my question that I never got to ask. _How long was I out for?_

"We had to knock you out somehow," Delirious then answers, a smirk on his face. "It's not like I could have drugged you and snuck you out with that many people around us. So, Ohmie bashed your head in," he then says as he kisses the back of Ohm's neck.

"You ended up being a bleeder though, so we had to wrap up your head. Before dinner, I'll come back down to clean it out and rewrap it. As Delly said, it's not going to be fun for us if you die from an infection." Ohm then looks back over his shoulder and smirks at Delirious, giving him seductive look. "But until then, let's go upstairs for a bit, babe."

He then playfully bumps Delirious with his hip before they rush back up the stairs, slamming the door behind them. I let out a sigh of relief over the fact that they didn't do anything to me, but soon after I start to tear up again.

_"He was checking me out. That's how Delirious and I pick our targets. After all, how are you going to get someone to come home with you if they aren't interested in you?"_

_... I should have just stayed with Tyler, Mini, and Marcel... I shouldn't have left the party..._

_**I'm such a fucking idiot.** _


	7. Eat

A couple of days have gone by and I honestly don't know what to think or do. I think it's been about four or maybe five days since they kidnapped me, and I feel like I'm getting drained of all energy.

I haven't really spoken the Ohm since he made me ask him questions a few days ago. All he does is drop off some food for me and then he leaves when I'm done. He barely even pays me any attention. Half the time he just looks down at his phone, texting or watching a video.

When he's gone, I'm left completely alone. The only things I hear are random birds in the early morning and owls late into the night. They feel like my only company, but they are free to leave and never return, while I'm left behind, locked in a cage.

Just like every day, I hear the door at the top of the stairs open and soon after Ohm walks down them and drops the tray in front of me. He then leans against the wall and pulls out his phone, tapping away on it as he writes out a text to someone. Letting out a silent sigh, I look down at the tray of eggs, fruit, and water, and I just take the bottle of water. I honestly don't feel all that hungry, and all I want to do is curl up in my corner and sleep.

After a few minutes, Ohm looks over to me and just says, "Eat."

"I'm not hungry," I simply say in a flat tone.

"I don't care if you're hungry or not. You have to eat."

"I said I'm not hungry," I reply, anger quickly starting to boil up inside. "I've eaten every other meal you brought me. Skipping one isn't going to kill me."

He scrunched up his nose and I can see anger quickly starting to cloud his eyes, making them look more black than anything. "Look, I'm not going to sit around and wait for you to eat and I'm not about to leave without making sure you have something in you, so I'm giving you one last chance. Either you eat, or I'm going to make you."

I don't even answer him. Instead, I turn my head away from him and the food, as if I was a baby refusing to eat mush. That seemed to be all he needed though. Before I even knew what was happening, I could feel a slight stinging pain as Ohm then grabbed me by the roots of my hair, pulling me away from the wall and ripping strains of hair out of my scalp. I don't even get a chance to cry out in pain before he then slammed me onto the floor next to the food, bashing the side of my head into the ground as I feel my shoulder go numb from the immediate pain.

Tears start to build up before Ohm kicked my body to make me roll onto my back. Opening my eyes, I then see him stepping over me, grabbing the plate of eggs before he then sits on my chest and arms. I try to struggle, but I knew I wasn't going to be able to stop him from whatever he was going to do next.

Grabbing my jaw, he pressed his fingers into the sides of my mouth so hard that it felt like his hand had to be made of steel. With enough pressure, he manages to force my mouth open, which he wastes no time taking advantage of. Placing the plate down next to me, he grabs a handful of the eggs and forces them into my mouth, pressing his hand over it before he finally lets go of my jaw.

"Chew," he then growls at me. I continue to try to fight him off of me, shaking my head as I thrash my body around, but he doesn't take his body off of me for even a second. "I said fucking chew," he then yelled, pushing his hand forward and making me bash the back of my head into the floor.

Using my tongue, I try to keep the eggs from falling down my throat, not wanting to choke. My head is starting to throb in pain from all of the pressure and getting it knocked to the ground a couple of time, but I don't stop trying to fight him off of me. That is, until he says, "If you don't fucking start chewing that fucking shit, I'm going to block your nose and suffocate you!"

I could feel my body start to shake with fear as I see him lift up his other hand and place it just above my nose.

"One... two..."

Tears begin to side down the sides of my head as I quickly begin to chew the eggs, using my tongue to push them to the sides of my mouth. My breathing becoming shakey and I accidentally feel a couple of smaller piece start to fall back, making me cough as I keep chewing.

"Swallow it," he then growls, and I stop fighting. Once he orders me too, I swallow the eggs, feeling a couple of larger pieces slide down my throat. They weren't big enough to block anything, but it felt extremely uncomfortable.

However, it gives him and I what we both want. Once I swallow everything he takes his hand off of my mouth, allowing me to start coughing up the smaller piece I was choking on before. Once the burning sensation calms down, however, I'm able to breathe a bit better. The "a bit better" shortly turns to "a lot better" once he gets off of my chest as well.

"Are you going to keep acting like a little shit, or are you going to eat," he then scolds me as if I'm a child with the chance of getting out of timeout.

Tears still falling down my face, I nod my head and say in a shaky voice, "I'll eat... I'll eat."

Grabbing the chain connected to my wrist, he then pulled me up as he stepped away from me, forcing me to sit up. Once I'm sitting up, I turn to the tray, grabbing the fork before I start shoving the food into my mouth. I don't taste anything; I barely even chew anything. I just wanted everything on the tray to be gone so he would leave.

And thankfully, once I was done eating, he didn't say another word to me. He just picked up the tray and left me shaking in the corner of my prison. I haven't felt so scared of death since my dad started losing his fight...

After some time of crying, I shut my eyes and curl up into a ball. My tears start to dry up on my face, making it feel a bit tight, but I don't care anymore. The adrenaline that was pushing me was finally starting to die down, taking all of my energy with it. With nothing but the singing of happy little birds outside to keep me company, I slowly drift off. As I sleep, I dream of my own freedom, which I took am now realizing I took for granted. I dream of running away from here, with all my friends by my side...

Or maybe that's not what I'm dreaming of... It doesn't feel like a dream the longer it goes on... It-it feels more like a memory.

***

I can smell the clean air just days after the rain. I can feel the ground sink a little as I run. I can feel the wind hitting my face... and I can so clearly hear Tyler screaming as he was caught by David and Marcel. Even in the middle of the forest, their angry, naturally loud voices echo for miles, scaring off all of the animals that were out.

Lui and I laugh as we hear them cursing at each other, but we continue running. After a minute, he and I go our separate ways to find somewhere to hide. I look around for a cave or a burrow to hide out in, but soon realize that I didn't have much of a choice for hiding places. I can hear voices getting closer to where I am, so out of desperation, I turn around and jump up, grabbing a branch from the tree next to me, and I used it to give me a good head start before I start climbing up the tree.

Once I think that I'm at a good height, I sit on a branch and just watch as everyone gets caught, one by one, and they continuously run by the tree, as they look for me. However, none of them find me... none of them, except for him.

After Brock was caught, he followed everyone as they looked for me, and he was the only one to look up when passing the tree. Once he saw me, he stopped and just smiled at me, shaking his head before he ran after them... he let me win.

***

_**... He always let me win...** _


	8. Checking

***Trigger Warning***

A couple more days have gone by, and Ohm seems a lot much happier than normal. He has that same creepy smile on his face and his eyes are shining a lot more than they have all week. Part of me wants to ask what's going on, but there's another part of me that knows it's better that I stay silent.

I look up to the window and see the sun starting to set, telling me another day is starting to pass. _Another day... How long have I been down here?... Have... Has anyone started looking for me?... Has Jane put in a police report?... My friends... Are they looking for me like how Tyler said they were looking for Brock?_

_Brock... Has he been found yet?... Did his parents finally get their son back... even if he's gone... Have the rumors about him finally stopped?... Have... have they started up **about me now? Do people think I killed my best friend?**_

I jump when I hear the door slam open and look to the stairs, surprised to see Delirious jumping down with the same twist smile Ohm had this morning. He looks over to me and laughs. "Alright, Evan! Today is finally the day! You're finally going to be able to play our game!"

"What?"

"It's been a week since you got here. It's Friday night. And Ohmie just left to find someone to play with you."

I feel my eyes shrink as I look up to him. "Wait, what are you guys going to do to us? You never even told me what this fucking game was?!"

"Good to know Ohmie still hasn't said anything. And of course, we don't want to say anything," he then steps closer and kneels down, looking straight into my eyes. "It's more fun seeing your reaction when you find out seconds before you have to do anything."

I look up to the window again and see that the sun has now completely set. My heart starts pounding harder and harder as each second passes. I look over to Delirious and see him grabbing the bucket I've had to use before he walks back up the stairs. Once I hear the door shut, I turn my head and look up to the window.

_... He said I've been here for a full week now... so I was passed out for only a few hours that night... I wonder what the moon looks like now? I wonder how the stars look right now?... Funny... I never thought about any of that until now._

A minute or so passes before I hear the door open again and I hear Delirious walking down the stairs. Once he reaches the bottom of them, he walks over to me and claps his hands. "Alright; stand up."

"What?"

"Stand up. I need to check you over."

"Check me over for what?"

"Cuts, bruises, broken bones. Basically, anything that could hinder you."

"Hinder?! Wait, what?!"

He then groans, annoyed at me, before he grabs the chains on my wrist and he roughly pulls me up to my feet. Once I'm on my feet, he forces me to turn around put my hands against the wall, and I gulp when I feel his hands grab my hips. Without saying a word, I feel him put a light amount of pressure on me as he then starts to slide his hands up and down my body, going under my shirt to check.

His hands feel like ice, causing his touch to leave goosebumps all along my body as he slides his hands up my sides, torso, and back. He runs his hands along my arms and neck, and then he pulls away for a second. I'm about to pull myself away from the wall, but jump when I feel his hands grab my ass.

I step closer to the wall and quickly turn around to face him. "What the hell was that?!"

"Don't flatter yourself, I'm just making sure nothing hurts. Now turn back around so I can check your tailbone."

"I can promise, nothing hurts! I didn't even do anything to allow anything to hurt! I've just sat down here and looked at that window all week!"

He growls and glares at me. "Don't make this harder than it fucking needs to be, Evan! Either you turn around and let me finish, or else I'm going to have to find a way to give someone with broken knees a handicap!"

I gulp and feel my body freeze up in fear. I want to shake or scream or something, but nothing happens. It's only when he roughly grabs my arm and he pushes me to turn around that I even take a breath again. Shutting my eyes, I try to place myself in a happy place in my mind. I try to think of myself in any place but here. I try... I try to ignore his hand as he runs it along my tailbone and in between my legs.

Once he is done, I drop to the ground and curl up into a ball, wanting so badly to shrink away and fall into one of the cracks in the cold, stone floor. I look up and see him pull out his phone before he walks away from me, going back up the stairs. Tears fill my eyes as soon as I hear the door shut behind him, and I hide my face in my knees.

...

I don't move for hours... Not until I hear a single honk from a car horn, which scares me and causes me to jump. Everything goes quiet... almost as if someone muted the world. Some time passes before all noise comes back with the sound of the door being slammed open.

Pushing myself into a corner, I stare at the stairs and wait for whoever was coming down. It isn't long before I see Ohm take a step off of the stairs and curse to himself as he almost drops the unconscious man, who he is holding up by his arms. He bounces the man in his arms a few times, moving his hands so that he could have a better hold on him before continuing to walk, backward, into the room. I watch as he drags the man to the opposite side of the room before he drops him against the wall.

Letting out a grunt, he looks back towards the stairs and yells out, "You're an asshole; you know that, right?!"

I hear laughter come from the top of the stairs before Delirious walks down them, stopping on the final step. "You're the one who made me carry all my picks by myself. It only seemed fair."

"All of your picks had been light enough for you to carry by yourself!"

Delirious laughs again before he jumps off of the stairs and walks over to the unconscious man. "Excuses babe. You have plenty of time to work out and build muscle too, you know."

Ohm shakes his head from side to side before he pulls out a long piece of cloth from his back pocket. "Fucking asshole spilled beer on the back of my bandana too. Honestly, I wouldn't give a fuck if I lost this week."

"What; You want to go out and have another asshole rubbing his dick on your ass all night," Delirious then laughs as he pulls out the chains that were on the wall farthest from me. The wall Brock was chained to just last week.

"Honestly, I would rather have one damn fuck boy that didn't smell like they bathed in Axe sit in my car over anything." He then looked over to me and raises an eyebrow. "What's wrong with him?"

Delirious looks over to me and shakes his head before he starts wrapping the chains around the unconscious man's wrist. "He's just pissy that I checked him for any injuries."

"Wait, why did you check him? We already did that last week?"

"I wanted to make sure we didn't miss anything."

Delirious then stands up and looks over to me before he turns to the door. "Let's hurry up and get everything we're going to need for tonight," he then tells Ohm as he starts to walk towards the stairs. "We don't need this bastard waking up before we're done and have to wait any longer than we have to."

Ohm laughs before he pushes the man onto his side, bending over and digging his hand into his pocket and pulling out the guy's wallet. He then turns towards the stairs and runs after Delirious, giggling like a kid and slamming the door behind him. Once they're gone, I look over to the guy on the other side of the room and I sigh. He is a taller man, dark brown, almost black hair with a neatly trimmed bread. I quickly recognize him, but not as a student at the college. He was just some guy that we would see around town. Someone I never had the want or need to talk to... And now we're trapped here together...

Some time passes before I hear the door open again. Seconds later, Delirious jumps down the stairs with something in his hands. It is only when he turns to me that I can see what it is. Two pieces of cloth and two... two shock collars.

My eyes immediately widen and I start pushing myself into the corner. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! What the fuck are those for?!"

"What's wrong," Delirious asks in a seductive tone. "Haven't you ever worn a collar before? Ohm and I think its incredibly sexy."

"I don't give a fuck what you two are into! I don't want any part of it!"

He chuckles a bit before he starts walking closer. "God, your reaction is just making me think that putting a chain around your neck would be even better."

I start shaking my head and I start to kick away from him, following the wall and getting closer to the stairs. Delirious realizes what I'm trying to do, however, and he quickly jumps in my way. "Don't even think about trying it. Now, be a good boy and hold still. Make this easy on us, or else."

I gulp and immediately freeze in place. I can feel my heart pounding and my body shake. Delirious smiles at this and walks over to me before he lifts my chin, giving him a better view of my neck. Going down on one knee, he places everything on the ground, only keeping one of the collars in his hand. Then, he slips it on my neck and tightens it.

Once he's done, he grabs the blindfold and ties it around my head before he pats my head. I then hear him stand up and walk away from me, going to the man on the other side of the room. Possibly a minute passes before I hear him walk back upstairs.

Questions start flowing through my head, and I try to think of an answer to them, but nothing sticks. After some more time, I hear the door to the stairs open again and two sets of footsteps coming down from them, telling me that it's both of them now.

"Everything is almost set," I hear Ohm say. Even his grin could be heard in his tone. "We just need a little bit more time. However, we can't have you two peeking at what we have for this round."

"What do you mean," I ask, my voice shaking more than a chihuahua in winter.

However, they don't answer me. Instead, I hear one of them walk over to me and grab me by my chains, pulling me up to my feet and slamming me into the wall to pin me in place. Then I hear the other one walk over before I feel someone place their hands on the side of my head and pull me closer to them. Next thing I feel is a slight pain in my neck before they let me go.

I hear them walk over to the other guy.

I hear them messing with his chains.

I hear... owls...

The room feels like it's spinning, and I fall to the floor, using the wall behind me to keep me from falling on my face.

I feel... I feel so tired all of a sudden... _What... what did they do to me?_


	9. Let the Game Begin

***Trigger Warning***

I open my eyes to see nothing but darkness around me. This confuses me at first, but I quickly remember the blindfold. Whatever was happening, I wasn't meant to see yet... and that quickly starts to worry me, especially when I hear the sound of chains moving.

"What's going on," I ask, confused and scared.

In response, I hear a gasp, but it didn't sound like Ohm or Delirious. "Who's there," I hear someone yell out. "Where are you?!"

"I... I don't know. I can't see anything."

"... Do you have on a blindfold too?"

"Yeah." I try to lift my hands and quickly feel how heavy they are. They're still chained together, but they are now attached to the floor. Not only that, but I can feel chains around my waist too. "Are you chained up too?"

"Yeah. Fuck. What the hell is Ray doing?"

"Ray?"

"... Why do you sound confused?"

"That's because he doesn't know me as Ray," we then suddenly hear coming from the darkness.

As soon as Ohm speaks, I feel the blindfold getting tugged, roughly, and becomes undone. I quickly shut my eyes and turn my head away as I see a single beam of light coming from in front of me, blinding me a little. After a few seconds, my eyes start to adjust to the light and I'm able to look forward. However, there isn't much to see. The room is still really dark, and there's a single beam of light, acting like a spotlight with no one in the middle of it.

I try to look around, but everything is too dark to see. All that I can really see is the floor in the spotlight, which is concrete and stained with something. It looks like a reddish-brown... _Wait... is that dry blood?!_

My eyes widen once I realize this and I push myself back, but I don't make it too far away. This isn't the room I had been kept in before, so not only was I knocked out and moved somewhere else, but by the looks of how much blood is on the floor, this is a place where a lot of people have died.

Footsteps echo throughout the room before both Delirious and Ohm step into the spotlight taking each other's hand before turning away from each other, Delirious facing me, and Ohm facing the opposite way. My guess, he's facing the other guy they trapped.

"We've been waiting for way too long for this," Delirious then laughs as he stares straight at me, making me feel small.

"What the hell is going on," I hear the other man yell. "Ray, what kind of joke is this?!"

"Sorry, Maxie, but the name isn't Ray. You can call me, Ohm. And this isn't a joke. This is a game, which you and Evan here are going to partake in! You will be our entertainment."

"Our?"

Delirious smirks before he turns around and takes Ohm by the hips, pulling him closer. "Oh, you didn't think Ohmie here was actually single, did you?" He then leans in and kisses Ohm's neck before he looks over his shoulder back to me. "Don't worry if you did though. Evan here thought I was single too."

"So what," the man yells. "You two just go out and make out with strangers until you get them to go home with you?!"

"It's the best way to get someone to follow you home," Ohm then says with a shrug. "Now, why don't we get started," he then says before he pulls out a small box with a switch on it, and he flips it.

The moment he does, I see a light turn on from across the room, showing me that the room is not only really long, but it shows me the man, chained to the wall and floor on the other side, just like me. Delirious pulls out a box exactly like Ohm's and he does the same. I immediately feel the heat from the light hit me, revealing myself to the man.

"Now, let us explain how this game is going to work," Ohm then says, putting the box in his pocket before he places his hands on his hips. "We're going to unchain your hands, but we will be keeping the chains around your waist on you. You see, you two are chained together."

"What," I yell out, confused.

Delirious lets go of Ohm's hand as he walks over to the man. Once he's next to him, he takes the chain and tugs on it, hard, towards the man as if he was tugging at the wall. However, when he tugs at it, I feel my chain around my waist tighten, and I feel my body getting pulled toward the wall. The look on my face instantly tells the man that they were telling the truth, and when I look back to him, he has a look of horror on him as well.

"The chain is just long enough for one of you to reach the middle of the room, but that would make the other one get pulled all the way back to the wall," Delirious then explains. "The one who makes it to the middle will have a chance at winning. However, you will have to do one more thing in order to win."

He then reaches behind him and pulls out... a pistol.

"You want us to kill each other," the man then yells out, as all of the blood drains from his face.

"Ding ding ding," Ohm yells out with a giggle. "It's pretty clear how you two will know who the winner will be."

"I'm not a fucking killer," I yell out, trying my best to hide the tears that are wanting to build up in my eyes, as well as the fear in my voice. "I'm not killing him!"

"I'm not going to kill him either," the man yells out as well. "The kid's done nothing to me to make me want to hurt him!"

Delirious and Ohm start laughing as Delirious places the gun on the floor in the middle of the room. "It doesn't matter if you two want to do this or not," Delirious then says. "One of you will do it eventually."

Ohm then points above his head but does it at a weird angle. It's somewhat pointing behind him. This confuses me for a second, until he finally says, "Behind both of you is a glass box that will light up after we leave the room. You both will be forced to stare at each other and that box until one of you kills the other. The box will have your reason to want to live."

"Friends, family, pets," Delirious takes over as he shrugs. "It doesn't matter. If you love it, it is in there."

"Neither of you will be given food or water until one of you kills the other, and if you make us wait for more than two days, we will turn off the cooling system, which will make this room get very hot, very fast."

"And if one of you decides to just, give up, and you let yourself die from the heat, lack of food, or lack of water, don't think that will save the other one. Point of this game isn't to outlast the other. It is to kill. Which means the game will continue until the other one dies as well."

"What the fuck," I just say in a soft voice, fear seeping into my veins, turning my blood into ice.

"Oh, and one more thing," Ohm then says as he starts walking over to the other guy. "You two will be allowed to talk to each other, but you will not be allowed to talk about what's in the other's box, nor will you two be allowed to look back at each other's box. If you do," he then chuckles and looks over to Delirious.

Delirious' twisted smile seemed to get a little bigger before he pulled out two more small boxes, these ones having buttons on them. Putting one in both hands, we watch as he presses down on them, and immediately the man and I both scream out as we feel electricity jolt through us. It was only for a second, but it was long enough for us both to start spazzing out from shock.

"We messed with these a little as well," Delirious then explains as he takes his thumbs off of the buttons. He then starts walking over to me as he puts them both back in his pockets. "This way, we can give you both even more painful ones in the future when you break the rules."

"Honestly," Ohm then laughs. "Part of me hopes that you guys do break the rules. I would love to see you two spazzing out on the floor until you piss yourself."

Delirious laughs as well, sounding more twisted and evil than it did last week. "That's always a hilarious reaction!"

He and Ohm then grab the chains that are connected to our waists and they start pulling them, trying to get as much of an even amount for the both of us before they reach down to our hands and unlock the chains on our wrist. The second I see the lock become undone, I immediately start unwrapping the chains, getting them off of me. This was the first time having them off all week, and it honestly feels good no longer having them on. My hands feel lighter than I remember, and they feel somewhat sore as well.

I start rubbing my wrist as I look back up to both Delirious and Ohm, seeing then both walking back into the darkness of the room.

"You both know the rules," Ohm starts.

"And the punishments," Delirious then finishes.

"The game starts now," they both then say at the same time, reminding me so much of those creepy, yet cliche characters from horror movies. _Though, normally they are twins... and kids..._

As I start to think about this, the sound of a creaky door opening rips me back to reality, telling me and the man that the two were leaving us. The man and I then look at each other as the door slams shut. Within seconds the glass boxes light up, and my eyes widening in horror. I feel the blood drain from my face, and I can't help but scream.

The man stares at me, confused, and asks me what was in my box. I can't answer him though. I'm can't stop screaming. Tears fill my eyes as I cover my face and start sobbing uncontrollably as I stare at the blown up picture of my best friend.

I want to forget it so badly, but I can't unsee any of it. I can't unsee his pale, lifeless body, his dull, dead eyes, his mouth hanging open and dangling to the side of his face in a permanent scream... nor can I unsee the deep, long gash going from one side of his neck to the other, allowing me to see inside his neck...

I want to unsee all of that... and the message those bastards wrote in fake blood that said _**"He let this happen to save you. Don't waste it."**_


	10. Wait

Some time passes before I finally stop crying, however, I don't look at the box... I can't look at that...

From the other side of the room, the guy keeps talking to me, calmly and softly. I keep my eyes on the ground and try to calm myself down by taking deep breaths. I try to erase that image from my mind, but it's impossible... Even with my eyes closed, I can still see every detail,

"What did you see," the man asks me, worry heavily laced in his words. "What was in your box?"

I shake my head, and just keep my eyes on the floor. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Why? Man, you have me freaked out. They told us that what's in these boxes are reasons for us to live, but if what you saw is making you react like this, how is it a reason to want to live?"

I bite my lip and stare down at the ground. _He is right. All that picture showed me was that my best friend is dead and dumped in the woods. That isn't much of a reason to want to live. So why would they-_

As I start questioning their reasoning for showing me that picture, I suddenly hear a loud scream coming from the guy, making me look up. When I do, I see him on his hands and knees, trying not to fall over and his body is spazzing out. After a little bit, he stops screaming, but his body is still twitching as he tries to catch his breath.

"What happened," I yell out, trying my best to just focus on him and not the picture. Though, it's hard to keep it out of eyesight with where it's placed.

The guy looks up at me and slowly sits up. "I wanted to see if I could see your box. The way you reacted told me it couldn't be good, but I just wanted to see it myself. These bastards have cameras in here or something, though. The second I tried turning my head, they shocked me. And they weren't kidding. That shock was a hell of a lot more painful than the first one."

"So we can't look at each other's boxes, and we can't talk about what's in them." As I say this, my eye jumps up a little, allowing me to fully see the picture again, and making me flinch and look away as if I was a little kid, jumping at the sight of a monster on a TV screen. "Not that I want to talk about what's in mine."

"Well, we don't have to talk about the boxes. We can talk about anything else."

I shake my head and try to cover my eyes a little with my hand as I look back to him, blocking out the box. "I don't know."

"Look, trust me, we're going to need to do something to keep us from going crazy while we wait for recuse."

"Recuse?"

"Yeah," he says with a smile. "Just think about the movies and all those cop shows, kid. The police will be doing everything and anything they can to find us... Especially you."

"Why me?"

"Because you look so young. I'm almost in my thirties, but I know that the people in my life would be worried about me. I can only imagine how the people in your life are going to react once they realize that you're gone." 

When he says this, I look away and sigh, dropping my hand to my lap. "... You... You didn't just get picked up, did you?" I shake my head. "How long have you been here then?"

I take a deep breath before saying, "Since last week."

Looking back up to him, I see that he has a worried look on his face. "You've been here for a full week?" I nod. "That's great then!"

"What?"

"Not that you've been kidnapped and held here for a week," he quickly says, realizing how bad what he said sounded. "I mean it's great that so much time has gone by. That has to mean that people are already looking for you. There has to be a search party or something looking for you."

I look back down and press my back against the wall. "I don't know... I just turned twenty not too long ago. I doubt if the police are even taking my disappearance seriously."

"Twenty?" I nod. He then sighs and I hear the chains jiggle as he moves to sit down. "They have to still be looking for you. There's no way a full week could go by and not one person thought to call the police."

I let out a sigh and rest my head in my hand, still not wanting to look up.

"Well, hey," he then says in a happier tone, making me look up to him, but covering the picture above him with my hand. "If we're going to be here for a bit while we wait for recuse, let's talk."

"About what?"

"Ourselves, of course. We just need to make sure we don't talk about what's in our boxes."

"I don't know," I say as I look over to the darker part of the room. The part where we saw Delirious and Ohm walk into before they left us.

"It'll help pass the time and it will keep our minds off of the situation."

I continue to stare into the darkness, waiting for something to help. What exactly, I can't say. After a bit, I finally look back to the man and I nod my head, forcing a smile. "Alright, we'll talk. I'll start. My name is Evan, I've lived in this town my whole life, and I've been here since last Friday."

The man laughs a bit before saying, "I'm Max. I'm actually from the city, but I come here from time to time to get away from the city life."

"Why do you live out in the city then?"

"Work."

I smile and continue to chat with Max about a few of the things we like and a couple of things about ourselves. However, it didn't take long before we realized just how difficult it was going to not talk about our boxes.

I was telling Max about my dad, and about the last time I saw him. Once I was done with my story, he asked for the name of my friend that went with me to the hospital, wanting to know more about him. Without thinking, I start to say his name. The second "br" left my lips, Ohm or Delirious realized what I was going to say, and decided to stop me with a shock.

I let out a scream as I felt the electricity flow through my body, causing me to fall forward and hit the ground. My body jerks and twitches and I push myself away from the wall, my hands jumping up to my neck to claw at the collar until it finally stops. Tears slide down my face as I breathe heavily, my body still twitching as I feel jolts flash through me.

"Evan," I hear Max yell out, making me look over to him. "Are you okay?"

I then take a deep breath and push myself back up, sitting on my knees. "I'm fine... Guess I can't even mention his name."

"So, your friend is in your box?... Then why-"

"Don't ask questions you know we can't answer," I immediately say, staring back to the ground.

He lets out a sigh before trying to get us to move onto another topic of conversation. I follow his lead, but soon, we stop. When I try to ask about his family, since he never mentioned them, all he did was look up to his box, telling me that he couldn't talk about them, which lowered what topics we had.

After a bit, our stomachs start to growl, loudly. I hadn't eaten since noon, so I would be lying if I said that I wasn't craving something nice and hot to eat in this room, which was starting to feel a bit cold.

"Shit," I hear Max say, mostly to himself. "I knew skipping lunch was a bad idea."

"Why would you skip a meal?"

"My co-workers and I were planning on going to a bar in town since the people are nicer than the assholes in the city. I just wanted to get drunk as fast as possible, which happens when you drink on an empty stomach. My friend recommended the idea... but I'm regretting it so much right now."

I let out a sigh and look towards the darkness again. "Well... I'm sure we can get something really nice after we get rescued... right," I ask, trying to keep that idea of hope alive. Max chuckles and agrees before we fall silent again.

Time drags on slower than I ever thought possible, and my body starts to feel a bit tired, even though I had plenty of sleep beforehand. Then, another round question comes to mind... _How long was I asleep for?... How long was Max asleep for?... What day is it?_

"How long have we been here," I can't help but then ask out loud.

Max looks over to me and raises an eyebrow. "I... I'm not sure. When I woke up, I was already down here, chained up and blindfolded."

"How long was I out for then? How long were you awake for before I woke up?"

"I... I don't know. I had spent a long time pulling on the chains before you woke up. I honestly just thought it was just me down here before I heard your voice."

I bite my lip, harder than I did before. "I wonder how much time has gone by since you were picked up then..."

"... Let's not... let's not talk or thinking about that... We should probably just try to save our energy. There's no telling how long we'll have wait for recuse."

"Then what do you recommend we do?"

"What do you think? Sleep."

"What? But we woke up..." I stop when I realize yet again that there's no way for us to tell how much time has passed.

"Look, it may seem stupid, but this is our best way to pass the time and save as much energy as we can. We have to trust each other here, so, let's just get some rest and wait."

I think for a bit before I nod, agreeing to try. After this, he and I both lay on the floor, and I shut my eyes a little, waiting to see what he would do. Time passes before I hear soft snores coming from him, telling me that he actually managed to fall asleep. Something that isn't really coming as easily to me.

Letting out a soft sigh, I shut my eyes and try to follow his lead, however, my eyes shoot open when I hear a door open and shut. I jump up and look into the darkness, my heart pounding in my chest as I wait for something to happen... but nothing does.

This makes me shake my head a bit before I lay back down on the cold concrete floor. _I must be going crazy or something... I must be hearing things..._

Shutting my eyes again, I try to fall asleep, which my body is greatly trying to fight. After even more time drags by with no results, I give up, sit back up, and look up to the picture of Brock. It's hard to look at and I can quickly feel tears fill my eyes as I stare up to my best friend's corpse... but I can't look away anymore.

The fake blood stands out so much on the box, and it is hitting me so hard. Letting out a sigh, I pull my legs up to my chest and shut my eyes thinking back to the last time I saw him, before his disappearance. He and I had spent the entire day in town.

***

We were just walking around, talking and laughing, going into random shops just to look around and cause a little trouble in a couple of them. Then, we had gone to the park and realized that the playground was empty. No little kids in sight. This made us laugh a bit before we raced each other to the sandbox. Sure we got some weird looks for being two twenty-year-olds playing on a jungle gym, but we didn't really care. It was fun and was a way to pass the time.

We didn't start heading back to my place until about five, which was when we ran into a couple of friends of his from the college. They had asked both of us to go to the party that night... Brock really wanted me to go... I lied and said I was tired... I just didn't want to be seen as Brock's pet for the night.

After that, he drove me home and we agreed to meet up the next day. After that... I never saw him alive again... _**If I had gone to the party with him... maybe he would have still been alive... Maybe he wouldn't have left with Ohm... All of this happened because of me.**_

***

When I open my eyes again, I keep them locked on the picture... _**He's gone because of me... I'm so sorry, Brock...**_


	11. Snap

I don't know how much time goes by before Max finally opens his eye and sits up with me, just staring up at his picture as well. Neither he nor I spoke a single word to each other, and the silence was deafening. Both of us knew that we had been locked away for a long time, but neither knew for how long. With each passing second though, I could tell that the tension was starting to build up more, along with some sweat after a while.

_God, it's starting to feel like an oven in here. Why does it feel like we've been sitting out in the sun without ever seeing the damn thing?_

Both the tension and silence was then suddenly broken between us as we both jumped and turned to the darkness after hearing a door creak open. However, like before, this one was more muffled. We waited for a bit, hearts pounding heavily in fear and stomachs twisting as our nerves start to take hold. Soon after we heard the door, be both started to stand, only to stop when we were both on one knee when we heard the creaking of a door opening again, this one being much louder than the first. It sounds like the door was starting to rust from how loud it was, but it makes us both focus in on the footsteps that followed behind it. A chuckle then comes from the darkness, but the person it belonged to didn't step out from it.

"I have to say," we then hear Ohm say. "You two are putting up a good fight to keep each other from snapping. However, that is seriously boring for us and is wasting so much time. Then again, I guess that's what we get for picking such a boring game this time." He steps closer to the light, allowing us to see his smirk before he starts laughing. "How about we give you more of an incentive to speed things up."

He slowly lifts his hand and then snaps his fingers. All at once the lights go out, leaving Max and I in complete darkness. I could hear footsteps as Ohm walks away from us and heads for the door, but I don't hear the door open. After a few seconds, the boxes light up again, but the image inside was still dark. At least, it was for a few seconds.

After a short bit of time, an image comes into focus on the screen, and I can't help but gasp when I see it. It's a video, recording the inside of a diner. The dark screen before was someone covering the camera to keep it from looking obvious. There are a bunch of people around, but in the middle of it all was a booth, filled with all familiar faces. Tyler, Craig, Marcel, Anthony, Lui, Brian, and David. All of my friends were sitting there with despair written all over their faces. They were all in black suits... They look like they just left a funeral.

_Was... was Brock buried?... Did I miss his funeral?... Did I miss my chance to say goodbye?_

I feel my heart start to ache, but the pain soon is pushed to the side. The camera shakes as I see someone start to walk into the frame. It isn't long until that person is fully in frame and I can see the back of Ohm's head.

Far too casually, I see him walk over to my friends, and he puts his hand on Anthony's shoulder. I can see that he is saying something to them... he's... talking to them...

My heart starts to sink, my blood turns cold, and my body starts to stiffen up. With wide eyes, I watch in horror as Ohm rubs Anthony's back and just chats with my friends. They all look at him and smile. Once he's done, he then walked over to the camera, and the screen goes dark again.

I can feel sweat building up on my palms as I continue to stare blankly at the screen. ... _He was so close to all of my friends... He spoke to them..._

"That's how easy it is for us," Ohm then says from the darkness. "Both of you saw similar things. Us going up to someone you care about. And it was so easy for us to do so." He then starts laughing. "And it will be just as easy for us to get close to them again; but if that were to happen, there's no promise that we'll leave them unharmed."

My heart stops and slowly, my eyes fall down to where Max was. Although I can't see him, even through the darkness, I could feel his eyes on me too.

"You boys have until tonight to make a move. Because if you don't," he stops before he starts laughing. He doesn't say anything after that as well. Instead, we finally hear the door open before he walks out, slamming the door shut behind him.

Possibly a minute passes before the lights come back on, revealing both Max and myself staring at each other again. Then, the gun is lit up.

My heart starts pounding again and soon becomes as loud as a drum. Brock killed himself for me, and now my friends could be in danger. To save them... I have to kill Max... but could I do that?

I gulp and finally break eye contact, looking down to the gun in front of me. _Could I do it? Could I actually kill someone? How could I live with myself after doing something like that?_

_I'm... I'm not a killer..._

I take a deep breath to try to calm my nerves as I think about what Max and I could talk about with this. _That had to have been a bluff. It just had to be. Rescue has to still be on the way. All we have to do is remind ourselves of this and-_

I'm ripped out of my thoughts the second I hear the jingling of chains coming from the other side of the room. My eyes shooting open, I look up to Max and see that he is now on his hands and knees, and he's trying to crawl towards the gun. My heart jumps to my throat, and I immediately start to crawl towards it too.

At the most, I need to buy time to talk him out of this. I don't know what he saw, but if it has him acting like this after he was so calm for so long, I know that it couldn't be good. He can't be thinking straight right now. And if that's the case, I don't want him to do something he'll regret.

Jumping onto my hands and knees, I start crawling toward the gun, using all of my strength to pull the chain. This makes both of us stop, causing Max to look up at me. I'm able to see so much sadness in his eyes. It honest to God looks like he's about to cry... _but why? What did he see?_

"I'm sorry, Evan," he tells me, his voice cracking as he tries to hold back tears. "I need to get out of here. I can't let them hurt her."

"Her?"

Seconds after saying that, Max's eyes widen and he falls onto his stomach. He screams in pain as jolts of electricity flows through his body, making his body twitch.

Since I was still trying to keep him from moving closer to the gun, the instant he fell, I ended up falling forward, putting me slightly towards the gun and pulling him back. I quickly regain my balance and stare down at him, hoping for him to just stay on the floor. However, once he recovered, he started crawling again, making me have to do the same thing to stop him.

"Look, I don't know what you saw, Max, but you can't do this!"

"I have to! I can't let anything happen to her!"

"It's most likely a bluff!"

"I can't risk it! I can't risk anything happening to her! Not now!"

"There's no telling if you'll even be let out of here! I've been here for an entire week!"

"So you had to have done this before! You had to kill someone before!"

"No! I didn't-"

"Look, kid, I've got a lot of shit I need to go home to! I don't care how long it takes me, but I'm fucking leaving! I'm sorry, but I can't wait for recuse! And if I have to kill you to protect them, to protect her, I'm fucking going to!"

I stare at him in shock as he yells this, causing me to lose my grip and fall back a little. However, I quickly snap back to reality and pull myself back forward.

Looking at Max now, I could see how sad he is about doing this, but I can also now see a fire in his eyes. A fire that could burn me with just a simple glare... A fire that will kill me if I'm not careful.

"Recuse has to be coming! You said that yourself!"

"So I should just sit here and wait for people who probably don't even know where we are?! For God's sake, we don't even know where we are! I can't risk anything happening to my Amanda!"

The second he says the name "Amanda" he immediately gets shocked again, making him tense up into a ball. At this point, I can feel my body turning ice cold with fear. I don't want to hurt him, but he is dead set on killing me at this point. So, I make a quick decision.

When I stumbled over again, I decide to keep crawling. I can feel his weight pulling back still as I drag him all the way back to his wall. I know that I don't have too much time until the shock stops, so I know that I can't stop to make sure he is okay. I need to grab the gun first... so I can throw it away from us. Hopefully, with the gun out of sight, it might mean that I can talk to Max again and get through to him. Or at the very least, it would keep it away from him.

After crawling for a few seconds, I finally get to the middle of the room. The gun is only inches from my hand. And I could hear that Max has stopped screaming. He's trying to recover from getting shocked. 

Reaching my hand out as far as I can, I wrap my fingers around the handle of the gun and pull it back to me. I then sit up onto my knees as I look over it. It's heavier than I thought a gun would be. I wonder how many lives were cut short because of this gun alone.

Taking a deep breath, I look over to the darkness next to me and am about to toss it, but stop when I hear Max yell out, "No! I need to get back to her!"

I look over and see that he is now on his feet. I want to ask what he means. I want to ask what is he doing. But before I have the chance to, he runs towards me, pulling my chain so hard that I can feel the chain press against my stomach. Then, I heard a loud bang. My ears start ringing the second I hear it... _What?_

I look over to where Max was, but I don't see him. But I do see what looks like fresh blood on the wall.

_N-no... No!_

Feeling my heart pounding in my chest, I start yelling, "Max!? Max!? Are you okay!? Please talk to me!"

Tears quickly build up in my eyes as I wait silently for him to say something. After a few seconds, I finally hear something. "... I- I'm... I... Ama..."

"Wait! Max! Come on, man! Talk to me! Max!"

I wait again for him to say something... but I don't get another reply. After a minute or two, all of the lights in the room come on, showing me all of the horror that came from my surroundings. There are blood stains everywhere, on the walls and on the floor around us. I look back to the chain behind me and see that even that has splattered dry blood all over it, making me scream and jump forward. When I do, I feel the chain drag Max a little. My heart stops.

Looking over my shoulder, I look to Max's side of the room and finally see him. He's on his stomach, hands under him, and his head is looking towards the door to the room. His eyes are wide open. He isn't moving... he isn't breathing.

"No... no! Max! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I didn't-" I look down at my hand and see that I'm still holding the gun, my finger around the trigger.

Before I can react, I hear the door swing open, causing me to snap my head in its direction. Ohm runs in first and goes straight to Max's body, and soon he is followed by Delirious, who just stands by the door with his arms crossed. He's got a cocky smirk on his face. Something that makes me feel so sick at this point in time.

"Straight through the heart," I then hear Ohm say, making me turn to him now. "Not bad. Even if you did it by accident. This might be a sign that you're a natural killer." He then turns to Delirious and crosses his arms. "But this was all still an accident. You could easily tell that if Max hadn't run at him, he wouldn't have done shit."

"Accidental or not, he still killed your bitch. Meaning I won this week."

My eyes widen as they continue to go back and forth, discussing what had happened as if they were talking about a hockey game. It makes my blood turn to ice, but also lights a fire in my heart as anger starts to boil up in me.

Looking over to Ohm, I can see that he turned his back towards me and Delirious again. Without really thinking, I bring the gun up, cupping the bottom of it with the palm of my hand, and I pull the trigger. There's a click... but nothing happens.

Delirious and Ohm both then snap their heads towards me, making my heart quicken in pace. I try pulling the trigger again and again, but all it does is click. The gun is out of bullets.

That's when Ohm starts to laugh. "Oh my God, did you really think we would give you assholes a gun with more than one bullet in it!? Do you think we're stupid or something!?"

"This isn't the first time we've used a gun in our game," Delirious then states as he walks over to me. Once he's right in front of me, he grabs the barrel of the gun and rips it out of my hands before he smacks me in the back of the head with his other hand.

"Let's move him back to his room," Ohm then says as he walks over to Delirious. He then kisses his cheek before saying, "I'll chain up his hands and put his blindfold back on. You unchain his waist and carry him back."

"He has legs. He could walk."

"We're not having a repeat of Jordan," Ohm then states in an unamused tone. "Unless you plan to just carry him up and down the stairs."

"You need to let the Jordan thing go already. It wasn't my fault he cracked his head open," he says before he kneels down next to me and grabs my arms, forcing them together.

"You made him go down a flight of stairs blindfolded!"

Taking a deep breath, I look down to my hands as Ohm walks over and tie them together. Feeling sad, defeated, and sick to my stomach, I then hang my head and let them do whatever to me. I don't argue or fight them. There's no point.

Once they chained my hands together and blindfolded me, Delirious took the chain off of my waist and threw me over his shoulder. My body swayed with every step he took, but I ignored how uncomfortable it felt. I was stuck in a shitty situation, I had just killed a man, and these monsters not only kidnapped my best friend, but they know where my other friends are. Who they are, where they are, and how easy it would be to get to them.

... _Who was Amanda?_

After a few minutes of walking around, Delirious finally put me down, leaning me against the familiar cold stone wall. I heard the jiggling of chains before they finally took my blindfold off, showing me that I'm back in my little prison. Delirious then messed with my hair as if I was a dog before saying, "Good job, Evan. You made it through your first round. Let's see if you can last even longer than Brock."

When I hear him say Brock's name, my eyes widen and I can't help but ask, "Did you force Brock to do all of this too?"

"Of course. Like Ohm said before, this is a game to us, and you guys are our entertainment. He definitely put on a good show for a while." He then grabs my chain and makes me look him in the eye. "But I can tell that you could do better. After all, you don't want his death to go to waste, do you?"

I gulp and look away. "... No."

"Then let's hope you keep going then." He then ran his hand up to the top of my head and he messed with my hair again before he started walking away. "I'll tell Ohm to whip something up for you. It's been about three days since this round started. You must be hungry."

I don't say anything or really do anything. Once he walks up the stairs and I hear him close the door, I fall to the floor and just stared at the ground. I didn't actually look up again until I see someone push a tray of food in front of me. When I look up, I then see that it was Ohm.

Taking a deep breath, I look down at the food before I turn away. "No, don't you start with that shit again!"

"Answer a question first."

"What?"

"Answer a question and I'll eat," I then tell him. I needed to know. "Who was Amanda? Who was Max talking about?"

"Why do you care?"

"He freaked out after those videos were played and he was yelling shit about her. So, who is she? Why was she so important to him?"

He rolls his eyes and shakes his head. "I don't see how this is fucking important, but she was his wife. He was cheating on her with guys from here."

I look down before I start to eat as promised. If he was really cheating on her, I don't understand why she was so important to him. What about seeing her made him want to get out so badly that he would kill me for. Questions were still going through my mind, but I try to push them away as I eat.

Once I was done, Ohm grabbed my tray and started walking away, but stopped when he was on the first step. He then looked over to me. "By the way, Amanda wasn't what he was so worried about. He was worried because Amanda is three months pregnant. He saw Delirious walking up to her just like how you saw me walking up to your friends. He was worried that we would kill their baby."

My eyes widen and I feel my heart stop. Ohm then walked up the stairs, leaving me alone as tears started running down my cheeks and guilt started eating me alive.

... _**What did I do?**_


	12. Not A Monster

My eyes start to roll to the back of my head. My lungs feel like they are shrinking and it feels like they are burning. The sounds of the birds singing outside start to sound more distant than I thought they were... I feel like I'm in pain, and I want air so badly, but I can't breathe... That is, until Ohm finally took his hands off of my nose and mouth, allowing me to spit out the food he had shoved in and allowed me to gasp for air like a fish pulled from the water.

A couple of days have gone by since I murdered Max, and I haven't stopped thinking about the horror of that night. He's yelling, thinking back, I could still hear the desperation in his voice. How quick he was to drop all morals in the hopes of going home to his wife. The idea of how badly he wanted to go home to see his kid... All of which ended with a pull of the trigger.

Since then, I haven't really been eating, or at least, I haven't wanted to. I only ate before now because I didn't want Ohm to do this shit to me again... But this time, I stopped caring. Part of me actually wanted him to kill me... But I guess I would only be allowed the pain.

"God fucking," he growls, glaring down at me as tears fall down the sides of my face, mixing in with my hair. "Are you seriously going to be this much of a pain in the ass today?!"

"What does it matter if I eat or not? If I don't want to eat, why are you going to force me? Hell, why even start suffocating me like that if you aren't going to finish me off?"

"... Are you seriously acting like this because of Max?" I turn my head and look away from him. This makes him sigh before he gets off of me.

With him finally off of my chest, I pull myself up and pull my legs into my chest. "I can't believe you're getting all suicidal over some selfish piece of shit."

"... No matter what he did, I didn't have the right to kill him."

"You're kidding, right? He was trying to kill you first! Hell, Delirious and I watched everything; you didn't even mean to fucking kill him! You were just an idiot that held a gun the wrong way! At worst, it's manslaughter, and at best, self-defense."

"But I still killed him... And what right do I have to kill someone who had his own reason to live."

Ohm blinks and looks over to me, his eyes wide open. "Wait, what did you say?"

"I said, I still killed him, and what right do I have to kill someone who had his own reason to live."

He stares at me, wide-eyed for a bit before he turns away and starts chuckling a bit. "You two are a lot alike," he then whispers, just loud enough for me to hear. I look over to him and see him shaking his head with a smile on his face. "You both are such fucking suckers."

"What?"

"Or maybe I should word it more as he was a fucking sucker, but that shit changed real quick. You, on the other hand, are still a fucking sucker."

"What are you talking about?"

"What the fuck do you think I'm talking about," he then asks me, looking over to me. "I'm talking about Brock."

"What?"

"He said something very similar to that to me the day after his first kill. But like I said, he learned to get that mindset out of here fast. That was how I knew something was up when he spared you. Well, that and your expression when you saw him."

"Wait, what are you talking about?"

He laughs a bit before he grins at me. "Think about it, Evan. How many people ended up dead during his time with us?" My eyes widen in horror as I realize what he's getting at. "Brock killed each and every person that Delirious brought home during his time here. Not only that; but after the first three, he stopped caring about the people he was told to kill."

"What?!"

"After killing the third person, I was quickly able to see something changed in him. I wouldn't say that he enjoyed killing, but he definitely didn't care as much as he used to. As much as you do. No, after his third round, after we told him how he was meant to kill the other person, he ran over and did whatever we said."

"No... You're-You're lying!"

"You can call me a liar all you want, Evan; but you need to know this about this. Brock killed sixteen different people. Sixteen! Now, if he had a problem the entire time he was made to kill, why didn't he kill himself sooner? Why did he kill himself after you showed up? It's why we keep drilling this shit into your fucking skull."

I start thinking about what he is saying, and I feel my heart start to break a little. "... He... He cared about me."

"Exactly. Every other person we brought in was a stranger to him, much like how Max was a stranger to you. But, since Brock knew you and cared about you, he wasn't able to make himself not care about you. He wasn't able to force himself to kill you. That's why he killed himself; to keep you both from having to play the game." He then rolls his eyes and grunts. "And I think he did it before the actual start of the round to say "Fuck you" to Delirious and I. After all, we don't have cameras in here, so we couldn't watch his death or stop it."

"... You would have stopped it?" He opens his mouth to say something, but I quickly shake my head and say, "No! No; never mind. I know what you're going to say." I then sigh and say, "Of course we would have stopped him. The way he killed himself wasn't fun and we didn't get to put you two through a round."

"I would have said it better."

"Why are you telling me all of this," I snap, yelling at him as I bang my elbows into my knees. "Are you just trying to make me see my friend as a monster or something?!"

"No, I'm trying to make you see things the way he did."

"How is telling me this bullshit going to-"

"Do you think he would be happy to see you like this?" I freeze up when he asks me this. "You're so quick to throw your life away for some asshole, who didn't care about anyone other than himself. Someone who lied about having a family, and who went home with another man in the hopes of having sex. You are just so quick to say fuck it to your other friends, everything; all for someone who didn't give a shit about you, what you saw in your video, or who might have been waiting for you outside of those walls.  
Meanwhile, you did think of him. You kept this line of hope out that just maybe the two of you could be rescued together. You didn't think about hurting him, and you didn't even start reaching for the gun until you saw him doing so. And you didn't even mean to kill him. You felt guilty the second you saw what happen... Do you think Max would have felt the same? Or do you think the guilt would have hit him after he realized he wasn't going to leave?"

Tears start to trickle down my cheeks as I start to shake my head. "I... I don't know what he would have done."

"You don't know? Or do you not want to think about it?" I shake my head again and look away from him, not wanting to look at him, but still feeling his eyes stabbing into me like knives. "Tell you what. You don't have to answer me. Instead, you can tell me your answer with your actions. Now, if you honestly think Max would have felt guilty right after killing you, take a drink of water. But, if you think he would have only felt guilty after realizing he was going to be stuck here, then eat a piece of fruit."

I can feel my body start to shake as his question repeats itself in my mind. I know that he's only trying to mess with my head by doing this, but it's actually starting to work. He has me questioning another man's moral, which honest to god, I don't know. Part of me always wants to think other people think the same way I do... but did Brock think that way...

_God, he's fucking with my head so much that he even has me questioning Brock too!_

Shaking my head, I turn to the tray and just grab the bottle of water. As I twist the cap off, I tell him, "I have no reason to believe a single word that comes out of your mouth." Once the cap is off, I bring the water to my lips and take a big gulp of it before slamming the bottle back on the tray.

After I do this, he shrugs and stands up. "If that's what you believe, I guess there's no changing that." I then just watch as he turns and walks away from me, going up the stairs... actually leaving me alone with the food. When I look down at the tray again, I let out a loud sigh before I push the tray away from me and turn back to the wall, just staring straight at it...

_He has to be lying about Brock. There's no way he would have done that..._

_**But, he lived for so long that I-**_

I shake my head and yell into my arms, "No! Brock wouldn't hurt anyone! So... he had to have cared about everyone he was forced to kill... He had to..."

_He's not a monster..._


	13. Another Friday

***Trigger Warning***

"Do you have to do this every week," I ask as I feel Delirious' ice-cold hands run along my chest.

Since it's Friday, Delirious is checking over my body again, while Ohm went out to find his next target that he says he wants me to kill... Or that he wants to kill me. Either way, I'm not looking forward to the nightmare they are planning for me tonight. I'm not looking forward to the idea of being forced into that horrible room that was stained with so much blood... with a new stain that I had caused last week. 

"It's only to make sure that you aren't injured from last week."

"Well, what if I was? What exactly would be the plan for if I had some type of injury?"

"Depending on what the injury is, we have ways of making it fair."

After he says this, I start to roll my eyes, but they immediately stop and grow wide as I feel his hands slip in between my legs again, making me feel violated all over again. I stay silent and hang my head as I just wait for him to finish up. Once he's done, I sit back down on the floor and look up to him as he turns away from me and starts to walk to the stairs.

"Why has Ohm been the one taking care of me," I ask out loud, not exactly thinking about how Delirious might react.

Once I asked the question, he stops midstep and looks over his shoulder. "What?"

I gulp and look down at my wrist, wishing I could take that question back. It had just been a question that came to mind earlier this week, and I didn't think Ohm would answer it. _So why the fuck would Delirious answer it?_

"I-I was j-just curious... Why has Ohm been the one taking care of me during the week?"

"Not that it is any of your damn business, but I work. Ohm stays home all day, so he has the time to keep an eye on you."

"What do you do," I ask, again, not thinking before I speak up and looking up to him again. However, the idea of this monster going out all day, possibly having friends and talking to other people while he spends his weekends doing this... He must have a scary good mask that he must wear.

"Now that is definitely none of your damn business!"

"I'm sorry," I flinch, looking back to my wrist like a child getting scolded for drawing on the walls.

After yelling at me, he turns away and walks up the stairs, leaving me alone. Once I hear the door slam, I look up towards the window and sigh.

I don't know what exactly is wrong with me right now, but for some reason, I'm starting to feel kind of lonely. Before all of this happened, I had cut off so many people. I didn't talk to anyone nor did I care to, but in here, it's a much different story. I'm just finishing up week two of my imprisonment, and I just want someone to talk to, for just a second. Unless I'm refusing to eat, Ohm doesn't even pay me any attention. That talk we had a couple of days ago was the first time he spoke to me since the night I killed Max, and the last time he's talked to me all week.

I guess I was hoping for a little bit of a conversation to start up by talking to Delirious, but I should have known better. _**I'm not human to them... Why would they want to talk to me?**_

Letting out a heavy sigh, I lean against the wall and stare up at the window, hoping and wishing for something to happen. Wanting someone to come out to help me or, maybe just talk to me. However, as time slowly passes by, nothing happens. Nothing, until I hear a single honk from a car.

_I wonder how long they've been doing this? Everything seems so... planned out. That horn... It's a signal..._

I take a deep breath and shut my eyes, trying to take my mind off of the horror show they have planned for tonight before it would begin. After a minute or so, the door slams open and I hear Ohm grunting as he drags his pick down the stairs, just like last week. When I open my eyes, I then see him dragging the unconscious man down the last couple of steps and across the room. As he drags the man, Delirious slowly walks down the stairs and leans against the wall, watching Ohm struggle with a smirk on his face.

"This is bullshit," Ohm then grunts as he pulls the man closer to the wall before dropping him. "Your wall is closer to the stairs, so you didn't have to drag your guys as far as I have to drag mine."

"I'll only start helping you if you start helping me after Evan dies."

I gulp and just stare straight ahead, keeping my eyes on the man Ohm dragged in tonight and I try to ignore Ohm and Delirious as best I can. I don't want to let them get into my head again. I don't want them to mess with me like they've been trying to do all week. So, instead, I study the face of the man that I'll either escape with or who will kill me.

He's clearly younger than Max was, maybe around the same age as me. He looks kind of pale, has long, blond hair that seems a bit all over the place. I don't even need to ask Ohm where he picked this guy up. It's easy to tell that this guy was at a college party. Whether or not he is a college student is beyond me.

I'm snapped back to reality when I suddenly feel a hand plop down on my head. "I wouldn't say he's dead meat this week. You never know what will happen."

"Of course you would say that. You don't want to lose so fast when Brock lasted for so long."

_I suddenly wish I could go back into my head._

"Hey, you can act like I care about this all you want, babe; but you and I both know for a damn fact that no matter what happens, I win anyway." 

His comment makes me raise an eyebrow and look up at him, confused by what he meant. _Is he just talking about wanting to see someone die? If that's the case, then why go through all of this? Why not just kill everyone yourself?_

"Yeah right. This coming from the same man that was getting pissed off that you couldn't find anyone that could beat Brock."

"No, that was because I just wanted the bastard dead. You and I both know that he was becoming such a pain in the damn ass after the first month."

I then turn my head and watch as he and Ohm then continue to talk as they walk back up the stairs. Once the door shuts, I look back over to the new guy. "... Sorry, you have to go through this bullshit with me... Hopefully, we either get recused or you have an easier time dealing with these guys than I do..."

After saying that, I look back up towards the window and notice that the trees are moving ever so slightly in the moonlight. There's a breeze outside... The wind looks a little stronger than the night I ended up here... _What would I do to feel that breeze hit my face again..._

Shutting my eyes, I lean my head back, resting it against the wall as I try to get a little bit of rest before the nightmare begins. However, it doesn't take too long before I hear the door opens and footsteps come down the stairs. When I open my eyes, I just see Delirious standing on the final step, looking over to me.

"You ready for tonight?"

"... I don't have a choice, do I?"

He doesn't answer. Instead, he steps off of the staircase and walks over to me, kneeling down next to me, his cold expression never falling for even a second. His icy blue eyes feel like knives stabbing into me, making me shrink and melt into the wall. "I think you'll like the game Ohm and I have planned for you two tonight. It's easy. You won't have to do shit to win."

I look over to the guy laying in front of me and sigh. _There's no way I could kill him._

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Delirious reach into his pocket and pull something out. Wide-eyed, I turn my head to look back to him, just in time to see him pulling off the cap to a needle, which was filled with some type of liquid. 

"Wh-what the fuck is that?!"

"Just a little something to put you to sleep. Same shit I use to knock everyone out. Now just hold still-"

"Wait, no," I quickly yell out, pushing myself away from him. "Please, I'll go peacefully! I won't try to run away or put up a fight! Just please-"

"We are doing this either my way or Ohm's way, and Ohm way involves a baseball bat to the back of your skull. Now pick."

I gulp and stare at him, fear eating away at my heart. His calm, dead tone scares me much more than seeing him pissed off. So, I quickly stop fighting and move closer to him, allowing him to take my head and move it to the side. I take a deep, shaky breath and shut my eyes, waiting for him to just get this over with.

After a few seconds though, I feel nothing. "... There's no way you're going to lose today's round."

Before I could open my eyes or say anything, I suddenly feel the prick into my neck that I was waiting for, making me hiss in pain. My body slowly starts to freeze up as I then fill the liquid getting forced into my body. When he pulls the needle out, he pats the top of my head a couple of times, calling me a "good boy" before leaving me. I bite my cheek and glare at him for as long as I can before the world slowly starts to spin. The moment it does, I lay down and shut my eyes, allowing my body to give in to the drug as fast as it could. There would be no point in fighting it anyways... It's probably for the best that I get as much energy saved up as I can before the round starts anyways. There's no telling how long this round will go on, but the more energy I have when the shit storm starts, the better.

Hours seem to go by fast before I finally wake up. Though, I wish I had something much nicer to wake up to.

My dreamless sleep ended with yelling and cursing from a voice I hadn't heard before. It's hard to tell, but I think I can also hear chains in the distance as well, shaking and jiggling as it is being thrashed around. When I open my eyes, I can see that I'm in the same room as before, however, the spotlight is already on me and the guy. After blinking a couple of times, I finally see what this guy was yelling about, and it causes me to scream.

"It's about time you woke up," I then hear a familiar voice say, making me flinch. Turning towards where the voice was coming from, I start kicking and pushing myself away as Delirious starts walking over to me. "We can finally start having some fun now."

I kick and push myself away from him as much as I can, however, I stop when I bump into something... or someone. Before I could turn around or react in any way, I see a flash of something going down my face before I feel something cold and hard getting wrapped around my neck. I'm unable to move after that. I'm too scared to. I've never wanted to know the fear of having a noose around my neck until this second, and all I want to do is pull it off and run away. If only Ohm and Delirious didn't have me surrounded.


	14. Hang Man

***Trigger Warning***

"Now, now, don't move a muscle," Ohm giggles as Delirious and him force me to step onto a wooden box. The second I stand on it, however, I hear a loud click, which makes my eyes widen in fear.

"What the fuck are you sick bastards making me stand on?!"

"You might want to save your breath, brother," The guy tells me as he continues to fight with his chains. "I asked these mother fuckers the same shit a while ago and a lot more. They haven't told me shit, so I doubt they'll start talking now."

I look to Ohm and Delirious and see the two smirk to each other. Delirious then turns to me and says, "What you're standing on is a little something Ohmie and I have been working on for a couple of months now."

"What the fuck!? You'll answer him but not me!"

Ohm covers his mouth, trying not to laugh before he says, "He's been here longer, so we like him more than you."

"What the fuck kind of reasoning is that?!"

I glare at Ohm and shake my head. "You guys like me, or do you like torturing me?"

Ohm looks over to me before he moves his hand away from his mouth, showing me his huge, twisted smile. "What do you think the answer is, Evan?"

I try not to let my fear show, but I can't help but gulp when I see that horrible smile. Grabbing my chin, Delirious turned my head to the side as he walked around me, telling me to keep my eyes on him. Ohm steps away from me, walking over to the guy.

"Keep your fucking hands off of me," I then hear him yell.

"You really know how to pick them," Delirious then laughs, rolling his eyes.

"Shut up, you ass," Ohm laughed back. "His mouth was what makes him the perfect choice for tonight."

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean," the man yells at him.

Ohm then started walking again until he was standing next to Delirious. "Well," Ohm starts before he wraps his arms around Delirious' neck. "I guess I should start from the beginning. This here is my boyfriend, Delirious. My name isn't Ray, but you can call me Ohm. And you two are here to play a little game for us."

"A game?"

Ohm giggles like a schoolgirl before saying, "That's right!"

"We're going to explain how everything works, explain the rules, and as soon as we leave, the game's timer will begin."

"Timer," I ask.

"We'll explain."

"So," Ohm takes over, turning to us and clapping his hands together. "Both of you are standing on a special box we've been working on for a while. The top acts like the trigger for a landmine, but it has a different type of killer inside. A couple of seconds after you step off of the box, it will activate a pulley system placed inside of it. The ends of both of your chains will be connected to the hook in it, and after you two step off of your boxes, it will act as an anchor and hang you."

"That's kind of dumb," the guy behind me says. "All we have to do is not step off and unhook the chains first."

"We weren't done explaining," Ohm growls, glaring at the guy.

Delirious rolls his eyes before he continues from where Ohm left off. "This is where the timer will come in. You two will have to wait for about an hour, maybe more if we forget about you, before you will hear a little announcement. That announcement will be telling you how to get the chains off of your hands. Once you have your chains off of your hands, you'll have two choices. Either you unhook the chain on your box, or you unhook the chain on the other person's box."

"Why would we do that," I ask, confused and nervous for the answer.

"Well," Ohm giggles. "We'll be chaining you two to the other person's box."

"So," Delirious laughs. "You two will either have to work together or you will have to work against each other."

"Depending on what you will choose will also affect what will happen next."

"If you two work together, we'll be nice and let you both walk out of this room. But, once you step outside, we will be hunting after you. You'll only get to live if you escape."

My eyes widen at the mention of escaping. _So, all I have to do is run away from them after we get out of here! Then, I'll be free again! No more chains!_

"Of course, this still keeps the option open for death to either one or both of you," Delirious then finishes with a chuckle.

"Your other option will be to unhook the chain on the other person's box. This will guarantee one's death and the other's survival." I bite my cheek and pay close attention to every word that they say. 

"Now," Ohm then says loudly, clapping his hands together again before looking over to Delirious. The two then share a twisted smirk before walking in between us I hear the ruffling of chains for a bit before I feel the chain tighten a bit around my neck. Taking a deep breath, I try my best to hide my fear, knowing that it's exactly what they wanted... Something I couldn't give to them. Not again. Not anymore.

Once they have our chains taken care of, they walk backward, those stupid smirks on their faces still before stepping completely into the darkness.

"The rules for this game are simple," Ohm then starts. "To win this game, you have to survive."

"Whether it is together or just one of you, it doesn't matter," Delirious then says.

"The game starts now," The two then say together before we hear the door slam shut as the two walks out of the room. After they leave us, the lights cut out, leaving us in complete darkness.

The second the lights turn off, I hear the guy start to struggle to get his chains off of his wrist. "Just calm down," I quickly tell him as my heart beats heavily in my chest. "Try to save up as much energy as you can."

"Shut up, man! I'm not going to wait for shit! I need to get out of here now!"

My eyes immediately wide in fear when I hear him say this. "Whoa, hold up! You're not actually going to try to kill me so you can get out of here, are you?!"

"Look, I'm sorry, brother, but if killing you will guarantee my freedom, I have to take it!"

"You're not going to escape if you kill me!"

"The rules said-"

"That you'll be guaranteed survival. You will live. Not escape... trust me, I know they won't let you leave if you kill me."

"... Did they make you kill someone before?"

I shut my eyes and hang my head, feeling my stomach start to twist with the same amount of guilt that had been eating me alive all week. "... Yeah... Look, we just have to play this game the way they want to play it. Let's just... let's just talk for a while until we hear the announcement. After the announcement, we'll get this shit off of our hands, unhook each other, and run like hell. They said we'd be free if we work together."

"But they also said they'd hunt us."

I gulp and feel sweat start to build up on my hands. I'm nervous about what could happen from now to when I get out. The idea of getting hunted like a wild animal honestly scares me so much that I think when the time comes I might piss myself. But, I try to calm myself down as I think about my dad.

No matter what, he never gave up. If he saw a light at the end of a tunnel, he always seemed to have reached for it. Even towards the end, before I stopped seeing him, he never really gave up... I... I remember he told me something before. I wish I could have remembered this before, but maybe I was meant to remember it now for a reason... _God, I hope this works._

"I-if there's even the slightest chance for anything, you should never give up. Until you are told that there is a definite zero percent chance for anything, you should always try and fight for anything. It doesn't matter what it is."

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"I mean, as long as there's a chance for us to escape from here, we should take it. It doesn't matter if it's a twenty-five percent, ten, one, or even zero point one percent chance. If there is the slightest chance for us to get out of here and running back to town, we need to take it."

The two of us stay silent for a bit, and I can't help but hold my breath as I wait to hear what this guy has to say. After possibly a minute or two, long enough for me to start getting lightheaded, he finally asks, "How can I trust that you'll unhook my chain?"

"You're just going to have to trust me like how I'm going to have to trust you. I don't want to die," I then stop and clench my fist as I think about Max again. "And I don't want any more blood on my hands... So, if we want to escape, we have to trust each other and work together."

He goes silent again, hopefully thinking over what I'm telling him. I shut my eyes and start praying that he believes me and is willing to work with me. My heart doesn't start to slow in pace until he finally speaks up again. "Alright... I'll trust you."

Letting out a sigh of relief, I smile and say, "Alright. Then, let's just talk for a bit to make the time pass by faster. My name is Evan. Evan Fong."

"Wait, isn't that the name of that guy that's been missing for two weeks?"

"... Yeah. That's me."

"Oh God, how many people have you killed then?!"

"No... I've only killed one person... and I didn't mean to."

"What the hell does that mean?! How do you kill someone on accident; especially in a hell-hole, shit show like this?!"

I feel a slight sting in my heart as he questions me. Every word is like another stab, slowly killing me more than the guilt... _He's right though._

"... It's... It's a long story... What was your name?"

"... John."

After getting his name, John and I start talking a little bit more, however, I can tell that something is wrong. As we talk, I try to get him to open up a little bit more, trying to get him to tell me about his friends, family, anything honestly, but nothing seems to work. He only tells me small details and asks me questions in order to keep me talking. I can tell that he doesn't trust me still, which quickly starts to worry me.

If he and I are going to get out of here, we're going to need to talk to each other. Even if he doesn't trust me completely, I have to at least hope that he is willing to work with me.

After a while though, I can't help but sway my body from side to side. Part of me is starting to grow impatient, and the other part of me is starting to get worried over the fact that my legs are getting tired. I want to move around, but there's only so much I can do while stuck in this position. _When are they going to do the announcement? As it been an hour yet?... Or did they actually forget about us?!_

"Those bastards actually forgot about us," John whispered, probably thinking that I couldn't hear him. "God, how long are they going to make us go through this shit... I just want to go home... I shouldn't have left Jaren alone."

"What," I ask, confused and a bit worried at the mention of another person's name.

"... Nothing."

"No, I heard you say someone's name? Is that your friend, brother, boyfriend?"

"None of that is any of your fucking business! Back off!"

I flinch when I hear him start yelling. Whoever this Jaren is must be important to him for him to react like this when he's been so aloof up until now. Letting out a sigh, I hang my head. "The first person that was here was my best friend... He had been missing for months, and... it turned out he fell for this same trap. Before I could have even woken up after being knocked out, he was dead..."

"... Are you being serious?"

"Yeah."

"... Jaren is my best friend too. He's like a brother to me... I just know he's going to freak out in the morning if I don't text him... It's our safety rule for each other."

After he tells me this, I can't help but smile. _Finally. A little bit of trust._

Before I can think of something to say in return, we hear a loud, ear-piercing screech fill the room, making me flinch and almost step off the box. "Fuck," John yells out. "What the hell was that?!"

After a couple of seconds, we finally hear something. It's just the sound of someone clearing their throat, but my eyes light up the second I hear it. "It's the announcement!"

"Attention all players," we then hear Ohm say in a weird, almost professional manner. It reminds me of a kid mocking the receptionist at their school's front office. "Sorry for the wait, I'm sure you both are just dying to know how to free yourselves. First things first though, you guys are going to need to get those chains off of you." He then laughs before saying, "On you two, there are a total of four locks, but there are only two keys. Those keys are on you both."

"We already know that," John yells out, annoyed by how long this is taking. "You bastards are supposed to tell us where!"

Ohm laughs again. "There's no reason to be mad. You guys are already halfway there. Just finish what was started."

"What the fuck was that supposed to mean?!"

We wait for an answer but get nothing. This makes John start to yell out in anger, pissed off that we were lied to earlier. However, while he starts going on a rant, I start thinking over Ohm's words. I know that Ohm and Delirious are fucked up, but if they were going to lie about anything, they wouldn't have lied about something like telling us where the keys are. They want us to kill each other. So why lie about something that would keep it from happening sooner?

Biting my cheek, I replay his words over and over again as if it was a catchy song. Then, an idea finally comes to me. "The keys might be in the locks already."

"What," John asks, finally stopping his rant.

"We're halfway there and just need to finish what was started. That was a hint. The keys might be in the locks already!"

"Well, how the fuck are we supposed to unlock them if the keys are already in them?!"

I start thinking about how we could actually manage to get the chains off, when another idea comes to mind. "John, how close are the boxes, do you know?"

"How the fuck am I supposed to know how close our boxes are?!"

"Look, if the boxes are close enough, maybe we can try to unlock the chains for each other."

He goes silent for a bit before I hear a slight jiggle of the chain. "I think this is as close to the edge as I can get."

Once I hear him, I gasp and take a step back until i can feel the edge of the box. Reaching back, I try to feel around for him, but I catch nothing but air. "Fuck," I yell out in frustration. "This isn't going to fucking work!"

Frustrated, I try to think of another way we could get the locks off, but nothing comes to me. However, a spark of hope does come up when I hear John yell, "I think I know how we can do this!"

"How?!"

"Have you ever seen those guys that could slide their legs through their arms while staying linked together?! Maybe, we can try doing that hear!"

I sigh and head my head. I know what he's talking about, but I tried doing that trick before and failed everytime. "I can't do that."

I hear a bunch of grunts coming from John and after a few minutes go by, I hear him yell, "I did it!"

"Wait, really?!"

He doesn't say anything, but after a minute or so, there's a loud thud with the sound of jiggling chains, telling me he actually managed to do it. A huge smile comes to my face and I can't help but laugh as I feel a rush of excitement come over me. However, soon after he gets the chains off of his wrist, I hear him curse. "This key doesn't unlock the chain on my neck."

"Maybe mine does," I then tell him, even more hopeful than before. "Okay, unhook my chain from your box and come over here. After you get the chains off my wrist, we'll switch keys, and unhook the one's on our necks before we leave."

He goes silent for a bit, I'm assuming to start doing what I suggested. My heart is pounding hard in my chest as I wait for him, but soon it starts pounding even harder when he says, "How do I know you're not going to jump off your box?"

My smile drops, "What?"

"How do I know that after I unhook your chain you're not going to just jump off your box and hang me? After all, you killed before and you want to live!"

Fear starts to freeze my body over. "No, John, I swear on my life, on my friend's grave, I would never do you in like that!"

"How can I believe you?!" I hear the jiggle of chains as he then starts walking, stepping off his box, and I feel like pissing my self. "I don't care if this sends me to hell after I die! I need to live! I can't die here, I'm not going to! I'm going to get back home and tell Jaren how much he means to me!"

Tears start streaming down my face as I then wait for the chain to snap my neck. However, before it has the chance too, the speakers come on again. "We lied," we then hear Delirious sing before he starts laughing.

After that, I hear a loud snap come from behind me, and the lights come back on. Shortly after, the doors open and Delirious and Ohm walk in, Ohm skipping pass me and Delirious smiling at me. "Told you you'd win this round."

When he says this, I quickly spin around and I see John hanging from the ceiling, a look of horror permitly printed on his face. I scream and fall backward, into Delirious' arms. When I fall, I also couldn't help but notice the chain that was connected to my box was jiggling around... _They... They lied... They actually lied!_


	15. Pretending to Sleep

"Why are you making us do this," I ask in a monotone voice, eyes glued to the window. I hadn't slept since John's death, which according to Ohm was two days ago. I haven't eaten either, which had really started to annoy both him and Delirious.

"You have to be fucking kidding me," Ohm yells, his annoyance finally boiling over into anger. "You seriously need to cut this depressive bullshit out! For God's sake, both of the bastards we threw into that room with you were trying to kill you! If we didn't lie about who's chain was connected to where in the last round, you would be dead!"

"He was just scared that I was going to leave him for dead."

"You told him you weren't! You did everything you could to get him to stop, but he didn't listen! How the fuck is his death your fault?!"

"I'm not saying that it is."

Ohm growls at me before he grabs my chains and roughly pulls on them, forcing me onto my hands and knees in front of him before he then walks in front of me and kneels down, making me look up to him. "Again, I'm sick and tired of this depressive bullshit you're pulling here. I don't give a shit if you're saying anything, because the way you are acting is speaking for you. You are feeling guilty for shit you didn't even fucking do, and that is honestly pissing me off."

"How," I yell, pulling back on the chain so I can sit on my knees. Tears start building up as I glare at Ohm, as all of the anger and frustration I've felt over the past few weeks finally boils over. "How is me feeling bad for John and guilty for Max pissing you off?! I'm not a monster! I can't help but feel bad for any of my actions! I can't put up a wall and pretend to be happy when I just saw someone accidentally kill themselves! I can't go through all of this bullshit and not have any type of feeling towards it when I'm the one that fucked up!"

"Because you're killing yourself over people who didn't give a shit about you! Both of those bastards tried to kill you, and yet you're sitting here crying over them?! What about your fucking friend who died FOR you?!"

"Stop throwing Brock in my face! I fucking get it!"

"You clearly don't; even when we spell it out for you!" I continue to glare at him as I watch him stand up and start to walk away from me. "I don't know about your friendship with Brock, but let me tell you about my relationship with mine and Delirious' best friend. The mother fucker is like family to us. I love him almost as much as I love my actual siblings, if not more. So, if I was in your position and he did what Brock did for you, I wouldn't be crying over every dickhead that tried to blow my brains out or force me to lose a game of hangman. Hell, I probably would have lost that round because I would have been the one to run off and unhook the chain I thought was mine; because I wouldn't waste a sacrifice like you are!"

"I'm not a monster like you are, though!"

"I've been called worse." Ohm then walks up the stairs, leaving me alone for yet another night.

Letting out a frustrated yell, I take out all of my anger on the onto two things near me, which was a plate with a cold sandwich on it and the bucket I've had to use as a bathroom these past couple of weeks, which thankful had nothing in it at this time. After breaking the plate and leaving a few dents in the bucket, I just walk over and curl up against the wall, trying to fall back asleep. However, it doesn't work this time. No matter how much time slips by, I can't drift off or even force sleep to come to me.

Eventually, the lights go out, but it is only when this happens that I hear the door at the top of the stairs open, and I hear two familiar voices slowly make their way down the stairs. "Wait, so he actually yelled back at you," Delirious asks in a hushed tone, telling me that they don't think I'm awake.

"Yeah. It's felt like he was finally fighting back as we wanted, but he was fighting back in the wrong way. It feels like he wants to die more than before."

When they reach the bottom of the stairs, I quickly shut my eyes and pretend to be asleep.

"At least he didn't try to slice his throat with the broken glass."

"Yeah, now; but who's to say he isn't going to do that tomorrow? Or on Friday?"

Delirious sighs and I hear the glass getting picked up off of the floor. "Which the plates we give him to paper."

"That's not what I'm talking about... but I'll make sure to do that."

"Honestly Ohmie, I think this isn't a depressive episode."

"You think this is full on?"

"It's possible. I'm going to need to speak to one of the therapists at my work about his behavior. I'll just tell them it's for a nephew or something. Though, it doesn't make sense for him to have developed it this fast after taking him. We've had men here longer who never showed signs."

"If it's really depression, he could have developed it before we brought him here. He did tell Max that his dad passed away from cancer at the start of the year. He never said how long he watched his dad struggle with it though, so that could have been the start of it, while the death was the final straw."

"If that's the case, then we are going to have to come up with a different way to make him want to live. Pushing Brock any farther would probably lead him closer than before."

"Let's focus on one thing at a time, Delly." I hear footsteps come closer to me, making my heart start to beat harder in my chest. When they stop, I have to fight back the urge to hold my breath and try to keep calm. I don't want them to know that I'm awake.

I flinch when I feel a hand touch the side of my face, but I try not to move after that and allow that hand to gently push my hair back. "I swear, these two are a lot like us in a way."

"Don't get sentimental, Ohmie. I know you were starting to get attached to him and all, but you and I both know that we can't keep cheating just because you started seeing a friend in one of these bastards."

_Sentimental? Friend? They can't be..._

Ohm sighs as he pulls his hand off of my face. "I know... Let's get back to the main topic. We can't get him officially diagnosed. If anyone finds out that he's here after so long, we're done... but we can get a general idea based on his behavior. Change my name in your phone to your sister's name and text me as if I was her tomorrow."

"Ew, I have never sent any of the shit I text you to her," Delirious laughs, making Ohm laugh and turn away from me.

"Well, that'll be how you'll tell her and I apart. Just do it and ask them to help you help me. I'll keep an eye on him more tomorrow and try to get some answers out of him in order to tell you and them a bit about him."

"Is that even going to work?"

"I think I know a way to get him to open up... I just have to first."

"Wait, you mean about what happened with your family or with your mom?"

"Both if I need to."

"... Do you need me to pick you up some ice cream on my way home tomorrow then?"

Ohm chuckles a bit before he walks away from me. "... Rocky Road if they have any in stock."

"Okay baby," he then says before I hear them kiss. I open one of my eyes and look over to the corner, just barely seeing them in the moonlight. Delirious has his arms tightly around Ohm, pulling him close to him and holding him in more of a protective way than I've seen before. When they break away, I then watch as the two start to walk back towards the stairs, but Ohm stops when he sees the bucket.

"Shit," he whispers just loud enough for me to hear. He then leans over and picks up the bucket, which is in more of a shape of a square now. "Can you also pick up another bucket from the store on your way back too?"

"That should still be good, there's no-"

"I am not going to carry a bucket full of shit in something that could fucking break at any second."

"... Fine. I'll buy a bucket too."

Placing the bucket back down by the stairs, they quietly walk back up the stairs, leaving me to sleep. However, I already know that I'm not going to sleep tonight. Curiosity is already taking over and I can't help but wonder.

_Were they talking about Brock? Did he and Ohm really get close? That can't be true. Brock would never be close to bastards like them._

_And what were they talking about and what does Ohm have that would make me feel like I could open up to him about? And... they think I have depression?... Do I? Wouldn't I know if I did or not?... Why would they even care if I did?_


	16. Talk of the Past

***Trigger Warning***

Once I hear the door at the top of the stairs open, I sigh and start to brace myself for anything Ohm has to throw at me today. I've been replaying the conversation he and Delirious had over and over in my head, like a CD that is stuck on repeat. However, every time I replayed it and listened to each and every word they had to say, I couldn't help but feel like something is wrong. I don't know if I'm paranoid or something, but I just can't help but think that maybe they knew that I was pretending to be asleep. It could be possible that they were making up theories and planting the idea of stories they can bullshit their way through in order to get me to do whatever they wanted. And if there is even the slightest idea of anything Ohm has to tell me now being bullshit, I can't believe them, and I can't allow myself to get tricked again.

Looking over to the stairs, I watch as Ohm walks down the last few steps and turn to me, his eyes locked on the food. He doesn't look up at me, but he walks over to my little corner that I always push myself into and places the tray down. Once he does this, I see him grab something off of it before he sits down next to the tray, leaning against the wall and taking a deep breath. Studying his face, I can see that he is nervous and upset. He hasn't even spoken a word, and yet it looks like he wants to cry. This causes me to look down at his hands, which are in his lap, and I see what it was that he took off of the tray. It was a black binder filled with papers.

Neither of us say anything for a bit, however, after a minute or two passes, he looks at me for the first time since walking down here and asks, "When was the last time you've gotten sleep?"

"What," I ask, confused and somewhat shocked that that would be his opening line.

"You look like a raccoon with how dark those circles under your eyes are. When was the last time you've gotten any sleep?"

I run my fingers along the underside of my eyes, really wanting to know what I look like. I haven't seen myself in a mirror in three weeks now, so I have no idea how crazy I must look right now. Anyways, after rubbing the underside of my eye as if I was trying to rub off make-up, I sigh and look away. "How many days have gone by since the last round?"

"So three days?... Were you asleep last night?" I slowly shake my head. "... I thought so." I look over to him, shocked. "You have a soft snore when you sleep, but I didn't hear shit last night when Delirious and I came down here."

His explanation makes me bite my lip and turn away from him. I really don't like the idea of him knowing something about me that I didn't know, no matter how small and meaningless it seems to be. 

"Well," he starts, rubbing his arm nervously. "I guess we should get started." I look over to him and see him pull out his phone from his pocket. "I'm going to be keeping notes on everything so that I know what to tell Delirious. He told me that he was going to talk to the therapist today at lunch."

"Don't waste your breath," I tell him, rolling my eyes. "I'm not going to tell you bastards anything."

"Okay, hasn't slept in three days, short-tempered, anger problems-"

"How about you add being kidnapped and forced to watch three people die in the last three weeks?!"

He stops and glares up at me before looking about down at his phone. "Best friend died and was involved in a shooting that left one dead."

"Wait, you're actually going to tell them that?"

"Saying you were involved in a shooting doesn't mean you were the one holding the gun. For all the guy knows, you witnessed a friend or stranger getting shot. Every little thing matters to these guys when it comes to diagnosing someone with something as serious as depression."

"I don't have depression," I growl, glaring at him. "I would know if I did or didn't."

"Not always."

I growl and slam my chain into the tray, causing the paper bowl to flip over, spilling the cereal that was inside of it. "What the fuck does it even matter if I had depression or not?! Why do you bastards care?! Wasn't the whole point of this sick fucking game that you bastards forced me in is that you fucking wanted someone dead?!"

"Murder is one thing, suicide is another. Not only is it not as fun for us, but you are putting an end to a story that may not have been ready to end. Everyone has a reason to live, and we make our games in a way to make you see that. With Max's round, it was about who was willing to do whatever was needed to survive. With John's, it was being smart and working together. We were literally giving you both a way out, all you had to do was work together."

"How?! We were stuck with our hands behind our backs and we couldn't reach each other!"

"Yeah, you could have. All you had to do was stand on the edge of the boxes and you two could have reached each other."

"We did that!"

"No, you did that." My eyes immediately widen when he says this. "You stood at the edge of your box and reached out for him. He didn't move from his spot. He was never planning on working with you because he wasn't guaranteed the win."

I look down at the mess I had made and try to hold back my tears. "... You're lying."

"I don't have a reason to. This isn't as fun as lying about who's chain is connected to which box, and this wouldn't end in getting rid of someone that was a complete asshole the entire night. Hell, lying now wouldn't even show anyone any type of respect. I can promise you, right now, I'm telling the truth... While down here, I'm going to tell nothing other than the truth..." I shake my head, not wanting to believe another word that comes out of his mouth.

He lets out a sigh before putting his phone down. "How about we get started? Delirious should be meeting with one of the therapists at his job soon, so I'm going to need to know what to tell him. Why don't you start by telling me how things were before we took you? Or, maybe you can tell me about when your dad was diagnosed with cancer?"

I shake my head again and pull my chain, dragging the tray across the floor as I turn away from him. "I'd rather burn in hell than tell you shit."

He sighs and stands up, walking around until he is in front of me. His eyes are locked on the folder in his hands, which he opens and starts looking through. Once he finds what he wants, he turns it to me, showing me a picture of him next to a woman in a hospital bed. They are smiling, and I can see tears streaming down their faces as he wraps his arms around her neck.

"This is a picture of my mom and I after she woke up from surgery... when I was seventeen, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer." My eyes widen and I look up to him, seeing his eyes filled with sadness. "The sad part about that was that I didn't even know. I didn't learn about her battle until I was twenty, so, when I saw her, she was a completely different woman than what I remembered."

"... Are you serious?"

He turns the folder around and pushes it towards me, showing me medical papers that I remember seeing a lot over the last five years. Chemo bills, hospital bills, surgeries bills, and copies of medical charts, all starting off well before going from bad to worse in the blink of an eye.

"Her final surgery cost so much, but it worked. She had to lose both her breast, but they managed to save her. That picture was taken a year after I learned about what she had been going through. She had just woken up, and the doctor told us that all of the tests were looking much better. She told us," he stops and I see tears starting to form in the corners of his eyes. With a single blink, I see drops slowly sliding down his cheeks. He then clears his throat before saying in a more raspy voice, "She told us they think they managed to get all of the cancer cells in that surgery... and she was right. My mom has been cancer-free for almost five years."

I stare at him and feel a tear slide down the side of my face. _I... I can't accuse him of lying about all of this... all of the paperwork, the pictures, and the tears... It's all too real to be bullshit..._

"... My dad was diagnosed with papillary thyroid cancer five years ago, shortly after I turned fifteen."

His eyes widen and he looks up at me, tears still in his eyes. "Fifteen? So, you pretty much watched him go through all of that as you were finishing growing up."

I nod and look down at all of the paperwork, thinking back to when the first medical bill came in. My dad was staring at it like it was about to burst into flames that night, and when he realized I was behind him, he tried to hide it. I already knew something was wrong... but it wasn't because he told me. I heard my Jane crying the week prior... she was on the phone with her friend and told her how worried she was for my dad... My dad was hoping I would never find out and that he could beat it, but secrets can't stay hidden forever.

"My dad didn't want to tell me because he knew that I would have worried about him, but, the month after he was diagnosed, I found the results from his first test sitting on the table with teardrops on it. My step-mother was reading the thing to her friend and forgot to throw it away. With it, I got my dad to admit that he was sick, but he promised me that he would fight it and beat it. I tried to help him at first.  
Over the summer, I started working two part-time jobs to get some money saved up for treatments and bills. I would go with him to almost all of his appointments, run with him in the morning and after dusk. I did everything I thought I could to be there and support him... but then he got sicker.  
Despite doing everything the doctors told us, my dad was getting worse. The chemotherapy was making him lose his hair, which he cried about. Despite running twice a day, his body was eating away at the muscle, and his breathing..." My body starts to shake as I struggle to continue speaking. "I can still hear how raspy his breathing became. How hard it was for him to breathe towards the end." Tears start falling down my cheeks, falling onto a copy of his mom's test results, showing that the cancer in her was starting to spread. "Towards the end, he had to have been moved into a hospital. The doctors thought he might have had a better chance in there, but I knew it was bullshit. My dad just didn't want me to see him slowly dying in that house... He didn't want me to have the memory. He was the one that choose to move in there... That's when I really got scared.  
I didn't want to lose my dad, and I was scared to see him losing his fight. So I didn't visit him after he moved to the hospital... I didn't visit him for three and a half months."

"And that's when you and Brock went," he then says, his eyes locked on me. "That's the last time you saw your dad alive... the story you told Max."

I nod and start wiping away the tears. "I heard about how bad he had gotten, and I just wanted to see him one last time. However, I was too much of a bitch to do it alone, so Brock went with me... I can't help be still feel so guilty for not going sooner... for not visiting him more... Sometimes I wonder if he was mad at me for not visiting him."

"I don't think he was mad at you."

"You didn't even know him; how can you say that?"

"Because, I think he would have understood that you had your own reasons for not going to see him. My mom understood that for me." Wiping away more tears, I look up to him, a bit confused by what he means. "Remember what I told you. My mom was diagnosed when I was seventeen, but I didn't know until I was twenty. The reason for that is because when I was sixteen, my mom did something she tells me all the time that she regrets, and I didn't speak to her or my dad for four years. And honestly, if I hadn't run into an old family friend, I probably would have held onto that grudge for a lot longer and not spoken to them for so many more years."

"What happened?"

He looks down at the folder between us for a bit before he shakes his head. "I don't know if I can talk about it right now... You said you had a step-mom, right? You mind telling me a little bit about her?"

I roll my eyes at the mention of Jane and lean back against the wall. "Her name is Jane. My dad met her when I was fourteen, moved her into our house six months later, married her two months after he was diagnosed, and now I'm stuck with her... I honestly don't like her... She makes me feel like a burden and constantly reminds me that the only reason she puts up with me is because she loved my dad." Letting out a sigh, I shut my eyes and try to hold back anymore tears. "I feel like she hates me... So I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't turn in a missing person's report after you guys took me."

"What happened to your mom?"

"... She died in a car accident when I was five... As sad as it is, I honestly can't remember too much about her."

"... My parents got divorced when I was thirteen," he then tells me, causing my eyes to shoot open and look back to him. "When I was fifteen, my dad married a woman who used to be my mom's best friend. She wanted the perfect life with my dad, and wanted to erase everything that had to do with my mom. So, when she came into the picture, my dad stopped calling us, visiting us, and stopped planning out weeks for my siblings and I to go see him. When I was sixteen, my mom married a man that seemed to hate kids. He made her kick my siblings and I out, making all of us homeless."

My jaw drops. "Wait, you were homeless at sixteen? What happened to your siblings?"

"I was, and I put them before me. That old family friend had a couple of kids of her own, so when I drove over with my brothers and sister, I begged her just to take them in... Then I left and started sleeping out of my car... I lived out of that piece of shit for a little over a year."

"You... you're joking."

He shakes his head. "I wish I was... I had to drop out of school and work two jobs, just to eat and save up for a shitty little studio apartment."

Looking back down at the folder, I take a deep breath and shut my eyes, allowing tears to trail down my cheeks. "... I guess I should just be happy Jane didn't kick me out after my dad died."

"No," he then tells me before I feel his hand gently grab my hand. "You have every right to be upset by what had happened to you."

I open my eyes and look up at him, seeing that his tears are starting to dry up. Before he or I could then say anything else, his phone starts ringing, making us jump. He quickly pulls his phone out and rejects the call before he grabs the folder and all of the paperwork and pictures. "I have to start texting Delirious."

After he says this, he stands up and runs upstairs... leaving me alone yet again... My eyes slowly travel over to the spilled cereal and I feel my stomach start to growl, however, I don't really want to eat the mess that I had stupidly made. Instead... my eyes start starting to feel heavy. So I lay on my side, shut my eyes, and as tears start to trickle down again, I slowly drift off to sleep.

Hours fly by before I finally wake up again. I'm not sure what time it is, but when I look around, I quickly take note that the tray and cereal are gone and that the moon is already out outside. However, the lights in the room are on, telling me that it isn't too late at night.

Pushing myself up, I look up at the moon and start to think about Brock and my dad again. I start wondering what they would think of me being here and if they would be more proud of me if I continued trying to live or if I let myself die in the next round. _I don't want to become a monster... I don't want to kill on purpose..._

After some time passes I hear the door at the top of the stairs open and the creaking of each step as whoever comes down. Before they reach the part I can see however, the light in the room turns off, leaving me and them in darkness. The silhouette of one of the two then steps off the staircase and they turn to me. "Happy to see that you finally got some sleep," Ohm says before walking over to me.

With the help of the moonlight, I'm able to see him a little bit better. I see that his hazel eyes are still red from crying, I can see the stone-cold expression resting on his face, and I can see that he is holding a red solo cup with something sticking out from it. What it is exactly, I can't tell.

"What time is it," I then ask, curious about how many hours have gone by since I saw him.

"It's two in the morning. We have a timer set to make sure that the light down here turns off at the same time every day."

He then leans against the wall and sits down next to me before he pushes the cup into my hands. When he does this, I look down and immediately realize what it is. It's ice cream.

"I thought you might like some after all the crying you did... I know I needed it."

I press my lips together, trying not to let the small smile creep onto my face like it wants to before I thank him and take a small bite. The moment I taste it, I'm brought back to my childhood. I can clearly see myself watching movies with my dad as we ate rocky road together. However, I never liked it. It was too rich for me, even as a kid, but it was my dad's favorite flavor.

Letting out a sigh, I ask a question I honestly didn't want to think about. "What did that therapist tell Delirious about me?"

"I told Delirious to tell him that you were adopted, just to make sure that he could understand everything about you. Then, I pretty much told him the entire story, only switching up a couple of things here and there to keep the story straight. When I was done... Delirious and the therapist both agreed with what we were thinking. It is highly possible that you have depression, and it is being made worse with the addition of survivor's guilt."

"Survivor's guilt?"

"It's involved in cases where someone will go through something traumatic with one or more people, and they survive while others didn't. You feel guilty about Max, John, and Brock, because you feel like they should be alive, not you."

"So... what does that mean for me," I ask, playing with the ice cream with the spoon.

"Unless he could meet with you, the therapist can't officially diagnose you with depression, even though he fully believes that you are struggling with it. Without the diagnosis, we can't tell you if you need therapy or if you need to be put on antidepressants... and you still can't leave here or stop playing the game."

"Then what-"

"Delirious and I are going to try something else with you."

"... What do you mean?"

Ohm sighs and turns away from me. "It means Delirious and I are going to drop our act a bit and be a little nicer to you... all we can do is hope that it can connect something in your head to allow you to see a point in living."

"Wait, what do you mean "drop our act"?"

This question makes Ohm laugh a bit before he turns to me. "What? You think we're always this fucked up?" He shakes his head. "No. We are normally really nice to everyone. It's just to the people down here that we act like monsters to... but we'll have to dial it back a bit for you. Just to make it fair for both you and whoever you have to go up against."

"How would that work?"

"Honestly," he starts, looking up to the window. "I don't know if it will or not. We've never had someone with depression in our game before as far as we're aware of, nor do I think they lasted as long as you have if we did have someone. I guess we're testing this out on you... Besides, you and I have a pretty scary amount of shit in common when it comes to shitty pasts. As far as I know, I haven't met someone who has had such a similar past to mine." He turns back to look at me before he shoots me a smile. "I don't think I'll ever find someone like you again, so I think it's best to give you something that I know I needed after the hell I went through."

"What's that?"

"Someone to talk to."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _**Hey Foxes!** _
> 
> _**Welp, this is something that I haven't had to do in a while, and I wish I was doing this for better news. I just want to let you guys know that this is going to be the last update for this story for the rest of the month.** _
> 
> _**I'm going to be starting college on Monday, and since this is really important for me, I want to especially focus on these first few weeks of classes. So, the next upload will not be until September 6th. After that, I honestly won't be able to promise to keep up with the schedule of one chapter every Friday. I'm going to try, but I want to try to put college first, and I want to make sure that I post a good story for all of you.** _
> 
> _**So, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see all you Lovely Foxes next month! Bye!** _
> 
> _**Good luck to everyone else who is either starting school or is already back in school!** _


	17. Who?

"You check out," Delirious tells me as he stands up, his voice sounding dead and somewhat cold. As soon as I take my hands off of the wall, I look over and see Delirious starting to walk away from me. 

This makes me frown and scrunch up my nose and brow. Ohm had warned me this morning that Delirious was going to be a bit cold tonight, but I didn't know he would be like this. My guess is that after leading someone here, he's used to just being an asshole to them and poking at them like an angry bear in a cage. Being told that he can't do that to me anymore must be throwing him off... But it might be my only chance of getting some questions answered.

Taking a deep breath, I sit down on the ground and look up to Delirious just as he reaches the stairs. "What do you do," I ask, biting my cheek after to keep me from screaming.

This makes him stop in his tracks before he slowly turns to me, a fire burning in his eyes. "I already told you that that's none of your fucking business."

I try to keep myself from holding my breath before I say, "I know... I just want to know what it is that you do that allows you to talk to someone that could diagnose someone with depression."

"Like I said, that's none of your damn business!"

"What's so wrong with you telling me? It's not like I'm going to repeat it to whoever I'm going up against... and chances are that I'm going to die anyways."

"Are you seriously giving up already?!"

"Are you seriously surprised? Do you really think a couple of days of Ohm being nice to me is enough to make me change my mind on life? Do you really believe a week will be enough for me to turn around and start killing people, when last week if you guys hadn't lied to us, I would have been dead?"

He growls, gritting his teeth as he continues to glare at me. "You have to be the most annoying piece of shit that either of us has ever brought into this room, I swear to god. Anyone else would see being alive this long, after dealing with the shit you had to go through the last two rounds, would see their life as a blessing. Yet, for some reason, you keep playing it out as if it is a curse. I understand fully that your mind is wired differently, but my god, the fact that you are so willing to accept death is ridiculous. I understand that you were going through a lot before coming down here, but there was a chance for you to have gotten the help that you needed a long time ago."

"I guess, but that option is off the table for me now."

"That doesn't mean you should just give up on everything! 

"Why? Because I haven't been through the worst the world could throw at me?"

"God, how about you shut up and think about the people around you, Ry?!"

After he yells this, the room goes silent. Looking into his eyes, I can see anger still roaring like a fire. Meanwhile, for me, he has to see the confusion. "Ry," I ask, making him snap back to reality. "Who's Ry?"

His jaw drops and I see that fire quickly go out. He starts shaking his head a bit before he turns away and just runs straight up the stairs, slamming the door behind him. I want to yell out for him, wanting to know what the fuck is going on, but I don't even get the chance to before he slammed the door. This just leaves me to stare at the window, biting my cheek as I have to wonder what that was about.

From his reaction, Ry had to have been someone close to him. Also judging by what he had yelled in the heat of the moment, I also have to wonder if Ry went through the same thing that I am going through. Not the game, but depression. Possibly suicidal. _Did he lose someone to suicide in the past? Is that why he really got so mad after Brock?... Is that why he gets so pissed off at me when I talk like that?_

Time drags on as I continue to think of questions and come up with stupid theories about who this Ry is. I'm only pulled back out of my mind after I hear a single loud honk from a car, making me jump. After taking a couple of seconds to regain my composure, I take a deep breath and get ready for the next horror show that was going to play out in front of me.

It doesn't take long after the honk before I hear the door swing open, followed by grunts and thumps. Another man is being dragged to hell, and with each footstep, I feel my stomach start to twist. It doesn't take long before Ohm steps into view, his arms around a man's chest as he grits his teeth, pulling him after him.

Once he's off of the steps, he slowly drags him to the other side of the room before throwing him to the floor. Seconds after Ohm starts putting the chains off of him, Delirious walks down the stairs and leans against the wall. "Are you trying to tell me something?"

"What," Ohm asks, looking over to Delirious as he raised an eyebrow.

"The last three guys you've brought in have all been taller than me. Are you trying to tell me that I've got competition or something?"

Ohm laughs and shakes his head. "You're so annoying sometimes."

"I'm not hearing a no."

Ohm rolls his eyes and chuckles. "It's not my fault the guys that are into me right now are tall, okay. Is everything set up yet?"

"We have everything, but I wouldn't say that it was set up."

"What do you mean?"

Delirious smirks and chuckle a bit. "I'll explain everything in a bit. Come on."

Not even waiting, Delirious turns around and rushes up the stairs, leaving Ohm behind. Once Ohm makes sure that the chains are on tight, he stands up and looks over to me. "Delirious told me you've pretty much already given up."

I look away from him and sigh. "I don't exactly get what the big deal is. The point of me being in this "game" is that I'm meant to die."

Ohm shakes his head. "No, Evan. Death is one of the ways out of the game. That's kind of the reason why we say you win when you don't die."

"Then what is the point of this game."

Ohm looks towards the stairs and leans against the wall. "For us, it's a secret. For you... You'll find out eventually."

"Why can't you guys just answer my questions?"

Ohm stares at the stairs for a bit before he smiles and looks over to me. "Because not every question can be answered right away. Some you have to learn." He then turns away from me and pushes himself off of the wall before rushing up the stairs, a smile and slight blush on his face.

Once he leaves, I roll my eyes and groan in annoyance. _I swear, every time I talk to these bastards, they leave me with more questions than answers... Why do I even bother to talk to them... Why do I even care anymore?_

Letting out a sigh, I look back up to the window and see the bright yellow moon sticking out through the trees. This makes me start to tear up a bit, but I force myself to keep my tears back. Memories of my dad start to rush over me as I remember a story he told me so many years ago. It was a story he wrote back when he was in school, but he never told me that part until I was older.

I can remember it so clearly too. It was about how the moon came to be and why we would hear wolves howling at it. He told me that a wolf was friends with a fox, and they loved each other like brothers. One day, a threat came to their forest and tried to kill not only the wolf, but his pack. The fox gave himself up in order to save his brother, and the pack, who up until this point seemed to have turned their backs on the wolf because of the fox, worked together in order to take down the threat. In the story, there was already a myth about the souls of the kind hearted becoming stars. However, due to his sacrifice, the fox became the moon before the eyes of the wolves. The wolf then began to howl towards the moon, in order to grieve his brother, and his pack joined after.

He told me this story at least once a month when I was growing up, whenever we saw that it was a full moon. He would tell me that when it was full, the fox would be able to hear and see his brother the best, so when we saw it, if we took a second to admire it, it was our was to show the fox respect.

As time went by though, I slowly stopped going out with him. Mostly because I never did my homework until after he told me to, but he never stopped going out to admire the full moon. After he got sick, I made sure to take him out every full moon, much to Jane's dismay... I wonder if he could see me...

I'm ripped back to reality yet again when the sound of the door creaking open. My blood goes cold as I know what's going to happen next, and I know I'm not okay or ready for it. The moment I see Delirious come down the stairs, I shut my eyes and start digging my nails into my knees. Without saying a word, he walks up to me and seems to take his sweet time pulling out the needle and getting it set up.

When I feel him put his hand on the side of my face, I flinch away, moving my head away from him and giving him a perfect shot at my neck. I feel a pinch, then the liquid is added in. Much like the last two times, I try to fight off this feeling. I try to fight off the sleep that wanted to come from whatever was in that needle, but after a couple of minutes, I lose the fight. My eyes shut, and I fall into a deep sleep.

I don't know how much time has gone by when I open my eyes. All I know is that when I look around, I'm back in the blood-splattered room, but it's different. Although the area near the door is dark, the rest of the room is dimly lit. I can somewhat see everything... even if I don't want to.

Letting out a sigh, I look down at myself and quickly realize that I'm not chained up. My ankles, wrist, waist, and neck are completely free of any chains or collars. This makes me smile for a second, but it doesn't last for long. I know that things will change soon, I just don't know how.

Not even a second after my smile falls, I hear serval loud thumps coming from the darkness, making me gasp and almost causing my skeleton to jump out of my skin. After I gasp, the room goes silent again as I wait to see what will happen next. Possibly a minute or two goes by before I see a tall figure walk out from the darkness. "You're... you're alive?"

Once the figure comes more into the light, I can see that it's the man that was brought in for this round. Letting out a sigh, I push myself up and stand in front of him. "Unfortunately. My name is Evan."

"I'm Felix... Where are we?"

I look out into the darkness and glare at where they normally come in through, however, they don't come out. "We're in hell," I then tell him as I cross my arms and lean up against the wall. "The bastard you came home with is one sick half of a couple of psychopaths. Whatever he told you his name was, it was a lie. I don't know his real name, but as long as you're here, he goes by Ohm."

"Wait, how do you know all of this?"

"How do you think," I ask, look up to him with sadness in my eyes. "I've been trapped here for four weeks."

"Wait, four weeks!?"

I nod and look down at my feet. "These bastards took my best friend and two other guys. My friend died before I woke up my first day, but they threw me into this room with the other two... They're going to make us kill each other."

"What?! What kind of sick joke is this?!"

I shake my head. "I wish this was a joke..."

"Look, we don't have to kill each other. There has to be a way out of here."

I look back to the darkness. "I hope so... Hey, what were you doing over there?"

"Well, there's a door, so I was hoping I could break it open and get out by kicking it."

My eyes light up and I look up to him with hope. "Any luck?"

He shakes his head. "I don't know what that door is made of, but it's strong."

"Maybe it will work if the two of us try!"

His eyes light up a bit, and he nods. "Let's try it! Let's get the hell out of here!"

Before we could move, we suddenly hear a click. It was quiet, but just loud enough for us to hear. "What was that," he asked, looking to me.

I shake my head and look around. "I don't know..."

Gulping, I push him towards the darkness and he leads me to the door, which we both start kicking and slamming our bodies against. As we do this, I start to feel my stomach twist as I begin to worry about the click. I recognize it. But not from here. I remember hearing a similar click back at my house, whenever someone turned off the AC.


	18. Heat

_What is taking them so long_ , I ask myself as I limp over to the wall and fall to the floor, leaning my back against the wall. Sweat is beating down my face, my shirt feels like it's drenched in it, and now my shoulder and legs are in so much pain from throwing myself at the door that it's hard to walk. Once I roll onto my side, I look across the room and see Felix limping over to his wall as well, pressing his back against it before sliding down it, sitting on the floor.

When he looks up, I can see that there is so much sweat on him that his light grey shirt is starting to turn dark, and his hair is sticking to his forehead. His face is starting to look a little red as well. This makes me gulp. _We haven't been told what do you yet? How the hell is this guy suppose to kill me and get out of here if they haven't told us shit? And how long has it been since the AC was shut off?_

As I stare at Felix, I feel my stomach start to twist, making me feel like I'm about to throw up and my head starts pounding against my skull. After a couple more seconds of feeling like this and starting to beg for death in my head, I feel something. Goosebumps slowly start to crawl all over my body as cool air starts to hit us. I lay my head on the floor and shut my eyes, letting out a soft sigh as the cool air finally hits me.

_Why did they turn it back on? What was the point of even turning it off?!_

After a minute or so, the door opens, making Felix and I look over, but we're too tired to move. Soon, Ohm comes out from the shadows and he smiles at us. "Sorry to keep you two waiting. We just needed to finish up a couple of things to get ready for this round."

"So, you weren't lying," Felix then says, looking over to me. "We actually were kidnapped by a couple of psychos."

"Aw," Ohm then says, looking over to me with a pout. "Evan, did you already tell him such rude things about us? Now that just ruins some of my fun." When I don't get him a reaction, he then turns to Felix. "So, what did he tell you? Just so we can move things along faster."

"That you go by Ohm and that you want to kill us."

"Now that's just not true. I don't want to kill either of you." He then chuckles darkly before saying, "I want to see you two kill each other." Looking over to the shadows, he gives a nod to, my guess, Delirious, signaling him to come in before he turns back to the both of us. "I guess with that big shocker out of the way, we should just move on to explaining what game you two are going to play."

"I'm not killing him," Felix then says, trying to stand up, but even I can see that his body is still too weak from the heat to move... So that's why they put us through that... _They wanted the heat to make us too weak to attack them or to try to run away._

"Yeah, yeah; the last two that came here said the same shit and tried to kill him first. Now, moving on! Today, we have a simple little game that neither one of you could fuck up-" Before he could finish his statement, all three of us hear a loud crash coming from the darkness, making Ohm's eyes widen. Slowly, we see him turn around, his somewhat creepy expression never changing until he is facing where the door is. "What was that?"

"... Uh, we might need a bit more time to set up the trap... again."

"What the hell does that mean?!" Ohm quickly runs into the darkness and we hear what sounds like someone kicking a rock before hearing him gasp. "You have to be kidding me! Delly!"

"I'm, uh, I'm going to get the game set up again," Delirious nervously laughs before we hear him quickly run out of the room.

"God fuck, Delirious!" Ohm quickly steps out into the light where we can see him and holds up a finger. "Give us an hour. We'll be right back. Why don't you guys sit back, relax, and enjoy the heat again."

When he says the last line, Felix's and my eyes widen in fear, making us both quickly push ourselves up. However, before we are on our feet, Ohm turns away and runs out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Felix makes it to his feet first and he charges at the door as fast as he could run, slamming his body into the door. The moment I get to my feet, I follow after him and slam my body into the door as well, screaming out in pain as I feel bone hit.

I wanted to stop rest my body, but the thought quickly left my mind once I hear the AC click off again. Panic immediately takes over, making me start to pound on the door with my fist, practically begging to be let out. My screams, however, go unanswered. The only thing the makes me stop is Felix dragging me away.

With tears in our eyes, he and I walk over to my wall and sit on the floor, our backs pressed against it. The heat quickly starts coming over us, making us sweat and pant. I see Felix get redder than before, while I start to feel really dizzy.

"I'm not used to this type of heat, man," Felix then tells me after a while. When I look over, I can see that tears are now starting to stream down his face, mixing in with his sweat. "I'm from fucking Sweden, man. I'm only supposed to be here for a couple of months for university. This shit wasn't supposed to fucking happen."

I shake my head bite my lip, wanting to do something or say something so badly, but I don't know what to say or do. My mind feels like it's being cooked, my head is spinning, and I honestly feel like I'm about to throw up. Out of all the ways I could go, I honestly never thought a heat stroke would be the cause... _Because it won't._

My eyes shoot open when the thought finally comes to mind. The thought of what these monsters have been doing. They set everything up, but it's always been up to the person I'm locked in here with and myself on who lives and who dies. Forcing a heat stroke like this, however, I feel like it would be too direct for them. It would be like locking a baby in a car when it's a hundred ten out. Our deaths would lay in their hands. Something they don't want.

Funnily enough, once this thought forced itself into my fried brain, we hear another click, and soft, cool air hits us, making Felix gasp a bit, and causing tears to now stream down my face from how happy I am to feel the air again.

As we both shut our eyes and take in the feeling of the AC, that I honestly don't think I'll ever take for granted ever again after this, we hear the door open again. I don't want to open my eyes. I don't want to get pulled back into the grim reality that is this hell I've been living for far too long. However, when I hear a loud thud coming from the middle of the room, I can't help but open one eye, just to see what they have planned for this round.

When I do though, I'm left a bit confused. There, in the middle of the room, in between the two devils, is a block of stone with a knife sticking out of it. 

"What the hell is that," I ask, slowly feeling my body finally start to cool off a bit more as the air bounces off of me.

"Have you boys ever heard of the Sword in the Stone," Ohm asks, swinging his hip to the side as he leaned against Delirious.

"I have," Felix says, his eyes still shut. Either he doesn't care about what is going on in front of us or he is too focused on the cool air to open his eyes.

"I haven't," I answer, my eyes still locked on the block in front of us.

"Well," Ohm starts, looking down at the block. "I'll keep this short, to not waste anymore time. Long ago, there was a great king, who fell in love with a widow. To win her heart, the king went to a wizard for help, and agreed to give up his first born son for the woman. Not long after, the first born was born, and taken away. A few years after that, the king died. The kingdom and it's allies quickly fell apart.  
When the wizard felt that it was the right time, he made a little test to have the first born show himself. He made a sword and stuck it into a large white stone, and made it so that only the king's son could both pull the sword out and put it back into the stone. There was a contest held to see who could pull the sword, but no one could even loosen it. Then, a young boy went up, and without any struggle, pulled the sword from the stone and placed it back in, several times, to prove that he was truly the rightful air to the throne."

"We heard this story recently," Delirious then takes over, kneeling down next to the block. "And we thought we could use a couple parts of this story to have a little fun." Looking to the block, he grabs the handle of the knife and starts tugging on it. "We made it so that this knife if pretty much stuck into this block of concrete, however, you two can get it out, if you really want to."

"If one of you wants to get out of here, you will have to get the knife out of the concrete and kill the other person."

"Not happening," I tell them, looking at Delirious with an unamused expression.

"You know," Delirious starts, smirking at me as he slowly starts to stand up. "I believe that is something that you've said several times before."

I glare at him, but say nothing in return. This makes Ohm show that same twisted smile he seems to love to wear when in here, before he claps his hands together. "Now, why don't we move onto what we plan on using to break you two today."

This makes both Felix and I snap our heads to Ohm, eyes wide open, giving him our full attention. With a chuckle, I see a light flash in Ohm's eye, telling me that he's enjoying this far more than any man should. "We are going to be using these to see just how far we can push you," he then explains, reaching behind him before pulling out two cellphones. One of which, I quickly realize is mine. Meaning the other one had to belong to Felix.

"Have to say," Delirious starts, wrapping his arm around Ohm's waist. "You boys are pretty popular. While I took Ohmie here on an early morning date in the city," he states before leaning in and kissing Ohm on the cheek. "Your phones did not stop going off. And lucky for us, it gave us exactly what we wanted."

"What do you mean," Felix asks, slowly starting to stand up.

"I think the time for the explanation is over," Ohm then says, looking down at Felix's shaking legs. "You guys know the rules."

"And we'll see who has the will," Delirious takes over, starting to inch away with Ohm, moving closer towards the door.

"The game starts now," they then both say at the same time, making a quick dash into the darkness and towards the door.

Felix pushes himself off of the wall and quickly tries to run towards them, but his legs just as quickly give out from under him, causing him to fall on his face. I crawl over to him, knowing that I'm probably still too weak to walk as well and place my hand on his back to check and see if he is okay. He sighs and slowly sits up, rubbing his legs.

"What the hell is wrong with me," he asks, clearly distressed and confused by what he had just gone through.

"It's the heat," I tell him, sitting on my legs. "Our bodies used most of its energy to try to keep us from passing out, not to mention recover from using up all of our energy from trying to break down the door. It's just going to take a bit more time to fully recover."

Letting out another sign, Felix slowly lets his body fall back, laying down on the cool floor and shutting his eyes. Not really knowing what else to do right now, I move myself over and lay on my back, staring up at the ceiling, seeing all of the little vents they have. Some with bars in front of them, most likely vents that we could have used to get out of here, and some look like speakers.

Taking a deep breath, I slowly start to shut my eyes as well, thinking that, maybe taking a nap to regain my energy would be a good idea. However, my eyes quickly shoot open again when the buzzing of the speakers come to life. Everything stays silent for a couple of seconds, making me listen in closely as I wait for whatever these bastards have to say. However, my body freezes over when the voice finally breaks through.

"Evan? Dude, where are you," Tyler asks, worry heavily laced in his words. "You step-mom just called me, asking where you were. I know you said you were going home with someone last night, but you know what's been happening around town. You need to call her.... or me. Please."

I feel my soul suddenly leave my body as realization finally hits me. "Those bastards got into our voicemails."

Before Felix could say anything in return, another voice breaks through the speakers. "Felix," a girl's voice through, making Felix immediately sit up. "Are you okay? You never called me back last night... or this morning. Did I do something wrong? Please, talk to me. I'm sorry if I made you mad or something."

"Marzia," he then whispers, his heart clearly breaking as he heard the girl.

After the last voicemail, everything goes silent again, leaving us to sit with what we had just heard... _These bastards are evil._


	19. Snap

***Trigger Warning***

"Evan, the police just came by! Where are you?! Please call me back! Let us know that you're not dead or something! Please!" I could practically hear the tears in Lui's voice.

"Felix, Marzia just called us, crying. Are you okay? Please call us and let us know you're okay." Just from the sound of his voice, I could only guess that is Felix's dad.

"Evan, I know that I was hard on you yesterday, and I'm so sorry. I was just worried about you and wanted to try to help. I'm sorry for being so harsh with you. Just, please call me." I haven't heard Jane this upset since my dad was diagnosed.

"Dude, are you okay? No one has heard from you all day, and you know that we all agreed to meet up this morning. It's not like you to skip that meetup or to not call us. Please call us back." Felix shakes his head, saying the name Mark under his breath as he started said something, but I couldn't hear exactly what he had to say.

"Evan! Please, please, please call us! Some people found Brock, and everyone is freaking out! We need to know where you are! We need to know that you're okay! Please call us!" Craig sounds so panicked. I want to hug him so badly and tell him that I'm okay or send him a message so badly. Just, something to put his worry at ease, but nothing comes to mind, and that is seriously killing me.

"Felix, I just called your friends and all of them said they have no idea where you are! Please, call me! Tell me you're okay! Please!" The Marzia girl sounds like she's on the break of tears in that message. I could also see that it hits Felix extremely hard whenever he hears her voice. I can only guess what she is to him, and I can only hope Ohm and Delirious don't use her to get to him.

"Listen here you fucking asshole! You can't just disappear for four months, come back for one night, and then disappear again! That's fucking bullshit! And you can't disappear like this! If this is a prank, this is the most fucked up one you've pulled since high school! Just- just fucking call someone already! Let us know that you're okay and that this was all just some big prank! Stop making everyone all worried... please. For the love of God, stop making us worry." Tears flood my eyes as I hear Brian's pleas for this to all be a prank. 

_You have no idea how much I wish this was a prank, Brian._

"Felix, please, call me! Call your mom! Your dad! Your friends! Anyone! Please! Just- just please let us know that you're safe! Please! You have to be okay! You can't be in trouble! You have to come home! You promised that you would be okay! You promised you would come home! You promised!"

After saying that last "you promised", Marzia completely broke down into tears. The rest of her message was just her sobbing. It was heartbreaking for me... I can't imagine how much it's hurting Felix.

"Dude, I'm about to go pick up some of the guys with Craig and we're going over to your house! Please, if you hear this, just go to your house! Everyone is worried! Everyone is freaking out! Fuck, we need you so much right now and we need to know that you're okay! Just please- please be fucking okay, you asshole... you can't be gone too."

I can tell how hard Tyler is trying to hold back his tears, and it feels like a stab in the heart. _I didn't know how much they honestly cared about me._

"Felix, you need to call us. Mark and Sean are just about ready to go to the police about this, but they agreed to hold off for one more hour. Just please, please please please please, call us and let us know that you're okay."

After the message ends everything goes silent again. It's felt like hours since the first message started playing, and the constant routine was quickly maddening. A message for me, a message for him, silence. A message for me, a message for him, silence.

As soon as the silence hits us this time, I could just feel the pain coming from Felix, and I can't stop the tears from falling. "Is that what they put you and all those others through," he asks, his voice cracking.

"No... my first one had me looking at a picture of the person I loved more than anything, and then see a video of them walking up and touching my friends. While last week, they just tied a noose around my neck and told me, work together or one of you dies."

"God, what the fuck is wrong with these bastards?"

"I wish I knew..."

I bury my face in my arms and let out a sigh. As time slowly crawls by, my heart starts to pound and break a little more with each passing moment. I silently start hoping that this would be it. That after those messages, there would be no more recordings. That they would resort to something else. Anything else... I just don't want to hear any more recordings of my friends freaking out. I don't want to hear anyone else crying. I just want this to end.

However, when we hear the speaker come to life again, I can't help but wince. _How many times did they call me? Why did they keep calling me? I don't know how much more of this I can take._

When the call starts, all I can hear is heavy sobbing. Whoever called probably was hoping I would have answered them before being sent to voicemail, but it clearly wouldn't have worked. Biting my cheek, tears continue to stream down my face as the call continues, the heavy sobbing being mostly all we hear. After a while, the person finally talks.

"Evan, please. You need to answer your phone. You need to be okay. You just fucking need to be. Everyone needs you. I need you. Brock was fucking found dead man... Please, call us. Let us know that you're okay. Let us know that you're alive. Please. Don't fucking die on us too, man. I don't think the guys will be able to handle losing you too. I don't think I will-"

Gritting my teeth, I can't help but feel Brian's words hit me harder than anything else anyone said in all of the past calls. It hurts hearing him cry, and it hurts hearing him worry so much for me. Although it has never been a secret that he cared about me and that he was definitely one of my best friends, hearing him like this is something new to me. It is something that is so meaningful, and it hurts me to think about how mad he must be that my disappearance is going on four weeks now... a month...

_I disappeared for four months, and now I'm seeing just how much they miss me... how much they love me... I was such a shit friend... I... **I don't want to die. I need to see them. I need to tell them how much I love them. I can't die.**_

When the next message starts, like with Brian's, all we hear for the first couple of minutes are heavy sobs. However, this is a bit different. When I look over to Felix, I can see his eyes wide open as tears stream down his face. He's shaking like a puppy trapped out in the cold.

"Honey, please! You need to call us! Please! You need to be okay! I can't lose my baby! Please tell us you're okay! Please!"

My heart starts to break a little as I realize why Felix started shaking when the message started. This message was from his mom. And although her message to him is short, her sobbing makes it feel like it's going on forever.

Staring at Felix as the sobbing keeps going, I can see something snap in his eyes. It's not like when Max had snapped, however. Instead of jumping up and running to the knife as Delirious and Ohm wanted, I watch as Felix jumps up and runs back into the darkness, slamming his body into the door again as he screams for them to let him out.

As he runs off and starts screaming, my eyes slowly fall down to the block in the middle of the room. In the dim light, it almost looks like it's glowing. Although the knife looks like just some dull kitchen knife that has to actually be dull now after being shoved into the block, the light makes the few patches of silver that is on the edges of it seem just a bit shinier than a brand new silver watch.

The longer I stare at it, the more I start to feel my mind start to wonder. I wonder how that block could be broken. I guess dropping it would be the best way, since that's what happened to the last block. But what about the knife. Would dropping it chip it? Would the concrete still be stuck on it? Would the knife be dull?... _**How much pressure would I need to put into it to push it through Felix's chest?**_

The moment the thought even came to my mind, I feel my heart stop and fear strike me like a bolt of lightning. _What the hell was that?! That's not a thought that I would have ever come up with! I'm not a killer!... Those recordings... they're starting to get to us... We need to get out of here!_

Feeling my body start to shake with fear, I look over to the darkness and listen as Felix continues to throw himself into the door. Biting my lip, I start looking around the bloody room, looking to see if there's anything we could use to get out of here, but the only thing that can get moved is the block of concrete.

Gulping, I stare at it again, trying to think of how we could use it to get out, and then an idea hit me. _I'm not sure if it will work, but it's worth a shot._

Standing up, I make my way over to the block of concrete, my palms starting to sweat from nerves. Once I'm in front of it, I take a deep breath and bend down, grabbing the bottom of the block and grunt as I pick it up. I slowly pull the block up, feeling my legs shake a bit as I lift it up, not realizing just how heavy this really was.

There's no way I can carry this all the way to the door. It's going to slip out of my hands the second I try to take a step towards the shadows. Maybe I should drop this and get Felix to help me carry this. Maybe with the both of us, we can throw it hard enough to break the doorknob.

Gritting my teeth, I'm about to kneel down to drop the block, but am stopped when Felix yells, "What the hell are you doing?!"

Freezing, I look over to the shadows just in time to see Felix running out before he tackles me to the ground, causing me to drop the block, smashing it. Letting out a gasp, I quickly push Felix off of me and sit up, turning to look at the block, only to see that it is completely broken in half, the knife sticking out of one half of the block, a black cloth wrapped around it to keep the concrete from sticking to the blade.

I shake my head once I realize that I'm way too focused on the knife, and try to crawl over to the block, thinking that maybe we could still be able to break the doorknob with one of the pieces. However, the moment I start crawling over, Felix jumps on my back and pins me to the ground. "I should have fucking known," he then yells, tightening his grip on my wrist as he glares down at me.

"Feli-"

"I should have fucking known you were going to try to kill me!"

"What?! No! That's no-"

"Don't fucking lie to me! You've been here longer, you told me that yourself! You had to kill people before me! And now I fucking get why! Well, I'm not going to let you kill me!"

Worried by what he means, I look towards the block and see him reaching over, trying to grab the knife. My eyes widen to the size of plates and I immediately start to struggle, trying to knock him off of me. "Felix! Please! Fucking listen to me!"

"I'm not going to let you kill me! I need to be there for Marzia! I need to get back to my parents! I'm not going to die here!"

I see his fingers just barely graze the edge of the cloth, making the adrenaline in my system go into overdrive. _**I'm not going to fucking die here!?**_

Pulling my legs in, I finally manage to get the strength to push Felix off of me and I reach towards the cloth, planning to just hold the knife to keep it away from him. Like always, however, my plan doesn't hold up.

As I reach over and try to grab the knife, Felix tackles me and rolls me onto my back. Then, while sitting on my chest, he wraps his hands around my neck and starts strangling me. I could feel his fingertips digging into my neck, cutting off my airway. I start crawling at his arms and face, trying to fight him off of me.

Tears start to fill my eyes again, and I can feel my head start to spin the longer he keeps his hands on me. Gasping for air, my hand jumps out to the side and I start feeling around the floor, searching for something I could use to get him off of me. Thankfully, I do find something. It's a chunk from the now broken block.

My vision slowly starts to go blurry, telling me that I need to do this now, or I'm dead. So, with as much force as I can manage, I slam the concrete into the side of his head, knocking him off of me. The second his hand slips off of my throat, I gasp loudly and start coughing, feeling my lungs burning still.

As I rub my neck, Felix groans and sits up, rubbing the side of his head, which is now bleeding. Fear immediately hits me, and in my panic, I grab the knife handle and rip it out of the stone, pulling the black cloth off of it as I pull it out. I then stand up and hold the knife up, pointed at him with my hands shaking.

"Felix, listen. I don't want to hurt you. I don't want to do this."

He slowly looks over to me, and the dead look in his eyes just tell me that this wasn't meant to end well. I watch him as he slowly stands up and reaches out for me, trying to grab me, and I panic. Yelling at him to stay away, I swing the knife, slicing the palm of his hand. He yells out of pain, making me flinch in return.

I see a hint of anger spark in his eyes, and I start crying as I stare at him, wide-eyed. I've already seen what anger can make someone do, and I've already seen what Felix is willing to do. So, shutting my eyes, I lift up the knife and bring it down as hard as I can.

I can hear him gasp as the pain hits him. I force myself to open my eyes, and I feel like screaming when I see him staring right at me, his eyes wide open and the color already starting to drain from his face. I want to scream so badly, but I choke on the sound. Shaking still, I know that I can't stop now, no matter how badly I want to.

"I'm sorry," is all that I can think to say before I then rip the knife out of him before I push him to the ground and kneel over him. Lifting up the knife, I watch as he struggles to get away from me, putting his hand in front of himself to block it, even grabbing at my arm. However, it doesn't stop...

After bringing the knife down on him several times, I notice that he had finally stopped fighting... He stopped breathing. Tears rush down my cheeks as I drop the knife, starting to sob uncontrollably as I still sit on top of Felix. Looking down at myself, I quickly notice blood had splashed back, covering my arms, shirt, and pants... _I... I'm a monster._

The lights soon completely turn on, allowing me to look over into the shadows. When I do, I see that there's another broken block of concrete on the ground, this one also having a knife in it. They never bothered trying to clean up that mess... and if I had known about it sooner, we could have tried my plan hours ago, far before those messages started playing.

Hanging my head, I stand up and walk over to the wall, pressing my back against it before falling down to the floor. After a bit of time goes by, the door finally opens and Ohm walks in. He doesn't look over to Felix's body like he normally does though. Instead, he walks straight to me and he grabs my wrist, putting them together before wrapping the chains around them.

"I'm going to walk you back to your room. Just follow after me, and do not make this any harder than it has to be."

I raise an eyebrow and look up to him. "Wait, why? Doesn't Delirious normally blindfold me and carry me to the room?"

"He and I have a reason for not wanting him to see you right now. Let's just leave it at that."

"What?"

"Just come on," he then says, roughly pulling on the chains, making me fall forward a bit.

Hissing from the pain that had shot through my wrist, I stand up and do as he says, following him out of the room. Once we step out, I look around and see that we're in a small hallway, with only two doors in it. One led to the room I was just in, and the other... I'm not sure where it could lead... but something tells me that I'm better off not asking.

Keeping my head down and staying silent, I follow behind Ohm as he walks down the small hallway and turns the corner, leading us to a staircase. Walking up the staircase, we come to a hatch, which when lifted, leads us to what looks to be a toolshed. Leaving the toolshed, I'm brought outside, and when looking around, I can see that it is dawn, telling me that we had been in that room for at least a full day. Looking around, I can taste just how close freedom has been for me this whole time. 

However, I know that if I were to try to run now, I won't make it far. So I continue to follow Ohm all the way back to the house. Once we walk in through the back door, the first room we come into is what seems to be a laundry room. After that, we come to a hallway with a couple of doors. Three of the doors are closed, but there is one that is open. A door that leads down to a cold, dark, stone room that I know far too well.


	20. You Need A Hobby

A full day has gone by since I had to kill Felix, and the guilt is still eating me up inside. I should have talked to him before I grabbed the block. If I had just spoken up about my stupid idea, I'm positive that he would have helped me break the doorknob... _**I'm such an idiot for not thinking everything through then.**_

Letting out a sigh, I look up towards the window and watch as a couple of birds fly around the trees as the sky starts lighting up with the sunrise. A knot quickly starts to form in my stomach as I start thinking about each admitted escape. I'm just trying to think about what went wrong with each one, so then maybe the next could end with both of us getting out, if not my death.

However, after a while of staring at the window and thinking, the only thing I could honestly think of is trust. John never trusted me, Max tried to but he didn't trust how soon recuse would come, and Felix only trusted me until the recordings started playing. It sounds simple enough to fix, however, how do you make a stranger trust you in a matter of minutes. Even if it's in a game of life and death, that's got to be one of the hardest parts of this sick game...

_Why am I calling this a game?! This isn't a fucking game_

I'm about to bring my head forward so I could slam it into the wall behind me, but I stop myself when I hear the door at the top of the stairs open. Shutting my eyes and clearing my mind a bit, I force myself to relax and lean back against the wall, tilting up head up so that when I open my eyes, I'll looking out that window again. However, by doing this, I can't help but raise an eyebrow. It's dawn... so why is Ohm coming down here now?

After a couple of seconds, Ohm finally comes down the stairs and walks over to me with the tray of food in his hands. I look to him as he then places the food in front of me, which is an egg sandwich, a small bowl of fruit, and a bottle of apple juice. I'm about to ask him why he's down here so early, but before the words could make it to my lips, Ohm speaks up first.

"Why do you always just stare up at that window every time I come down here?"

I shrug and look back up to him. "What else am I supposed to do down here?"

"Well, the other guys would do push-ups, sit-ups, and a bunch of other work-out shit. I've never once seen you do that though. All I ever see you do is stare up at that window or sleep."

"I don't really see a point to working out though."

"To build muscle? To give you more energy? To help your body produce endorphins? To just give you something to do so you're not sitting on the floor staring at a window for a month?"

I stay silent for a little bit after he tells me that and I press my lips together. "... You got me there." After telling him that, I look back down to my food and poke the beard. I am a bit hungry, but part of me doesn't want to try to eat. Not because of how upset I am or anything, but because of the fact that I still have Felix's blood on my hands, which has started to turn brown. "What are you doing down here at this time? Normally you don't bring me breakfast until the sun is higher up in the sky."

I look back up to Ohm and see him look over to the window with an eyebrow raised. After a bit, he looks back down towards me and just says, "Yeah; you need a hobby."

His statement quickly annoys me, causing me to roll my eyes as I say in return, "Jeez, thanks for the advice. I'll try pulling a couple of hobbies out of the cracks in the wall so I can find something that I'm happy with."

"You know, smart-ass doesn't look too good on you; and I don't mean just pulling a hobby out of a hat or your ass, jackass. Why don't you just tell me what you liked to do before Delirious brought you here and I'll see what I can do."

"What? Why would you do something like that for me?"

"Because it's either I find a way to help you or I have to force you to eat and have to worry about you doing something when we aren't looking. Speaking of, eat. And just tell me what you use to do for fun before the night you ended up here."

Rolling my eyes again, I look back down to the food and poke the sandwich again, wishing I could stop seeing the blood already. "I didn't really do anything before coming here. After Brock ended up here, I spent my time in my room, sleeping."

"You didn't do anything else?" I shake my head. "Wait, really?" I nod my head. "What the fuck? How were you able to go four months doing nothing? I would have gone insane." Pressing my lips together, I just shrug, not really feeling the need to actually say anything. 

"Okay, well what about before that? You can't tell me that you didn't do shit before we took Brock."

I look back down to the food for a bit as I think about what exactly I did before. It may have only been a few months ago, but honestly, it feels more like a lifetime. After a minute, I look up to the window and shrug. "I guess I liked hiking and running through the forest a lot. Whenever it was raining or something, my friends and I would play games, and after a few days, we would play in the forest."

"Wait, are you talking about now or back when you were a kid?"

I chuckle a bit before I look over to him. "Nothing wrong with still acting like a kid at the age of twenty." I then sigh before I look back to the window.

"Well, is there anything that you like to do that doesn't require us to let you outside?"

I think about it for a bit, but soon shake my head. "Everything that I liked doing, aside from playing video games, all had to do with hanging out outside with my friends."

He sighs before turning away. "Well, that's just perfect... I think I might have something upstairs."

He starts walking towards the stairs, but before he could even put his hand on the railing, I yell out, "Wait! You never answered my question! Why are you down here so early?!"

He looks over at me through the corner of his eye before saying, "I have plans for today," before he walks upstairs. After I hear the door shut, I sigh and look down at my arms, shirt, and pants. Everything has been stained with blood for much longer than I would like. I wish I could wash it all off with the bottle of apple juice that I was given, but as long as my arms are chained together, I can't do anything. Plus, I think that might make me really stinky.

Groaning at how gross this is, I grab the sandwich and start eating it. It's good, but I have to keep my eyes off of it the entire time, not wanting to see the dry blood. After a couple of minutes, I manage to swallow every bite and I'm about to start eating the fruit, only to stop when I hear the door open again. Confused, I look over and wait until I finally see who's coming down the stairs, and why.

Soon, Ohm appears and I quickly notice something in his arms. Not saying a word, he walks over to me and kneels down, dropping three books in front of me. Looking at them, I can't hide the confusion on my face as I read the title of all three books. The Outsiders, The Last Book in the Universe, and The Hunger Games. _What the hell?_

"What is all of this," I ask, looking back up to Ohm.

"I don't want you just sitting here, doing nothing all-day again. So, these are a couple of the only books we have."

"Wait, you only have three books?"

"I said a couple, smartass. Honestly, though, the only reason we even have any books is because of my sister. When I was homeless, she was going into middle school. She stole a copy of all the books she had to read for school, found me, and gave it to me so I had something to do."

"Wait, she took them? Don't you have to pay when you lose a copy of whatever book?"

He looks up to the corner of his eyes, thinking about what I had said before looking forward, a realization lighting up in his eyes. "... Fuck; I hope Chris paid for that shit and not my mom or Kristen." He then looks down to me, "Either way, try not to rip up the pages or anything. Just, read them and keep yourself busy. I'm going into the town for a bit to take care of some shit. When I get back, I'm going to give you a little bath so we can get the blood off of you."

"Wait, I'm allowed a bath to get this off of me?! Why couldn't we have done this yesterday?!"

"How are you asking more questions now than when we first brought you here," Ohm groans, pinching his forehead. "Delirious and I were busy; no more questions. Just eat and read. I'll be back later."

After telling me that, he turns away from me again and walks back up the stairs. I groan a bit before I look down at the books for a bit before feeling my heart start to break a bit. I was more of an athlete in school, however, my dad was more of a bookworm. An intellect, I guess. _Is that even the right word?_

Shaking my head, I pick up the first book on the pile and stare at the cover. I remember when my seventh-grade teacher told us that we were to read The Last Book In The Universe, and I hated the idea more than anything. I never liked reading, and with this assignment, I was going to be expected to read this novel and do an extra assignment on it every night. At first, I thought my teacher just hated us and she wanted to torture us; but then my dad stepped up.

I remember one the first day of the assigned reading, I was sitting at the table for a good hour, just staring at the book, trying to understand what the fuck was going on in the story. My dad saw me getting pissed off at the book, almost to the point of wanting to throw the thing away, when he decided to come to help me. He sat down next to me and actually helped me understand the story, and eventually fall in love with it.

After that first night, he would help me with each and every book I had to read for school, even after he got sick. He helped me see how amazing reading could actually be. Taking you to a new world, and either allowing you to see everything through another's eyes or allowing you to see a movie seemingly play out right before your eyes. Allowing you to go into the world of the characters, yet, watch their lives play out like a movie. 

As I flip the book onto the side so I can start reading it, I can't help but notice a couple of drops of tears fall onto my hand. This shocks me a bit, because I hadn't even realized I was crying...

Taking a deep breath, I lean back a bit and open the first book, and as my eyes start to move long the page, silently reading the book to myself, I can't help but hear a familiar voice, that I know isn't here, but I miss so much.

_"What you reading there, Ev?... You need some help?... You know, reading isn't as boring as you think. Come on, I'll help you with this... Haha, oh come on, it's not that bad! Besides, this one is a pretty good read if you gave it a chance."_


	21. New Friend

It's been about four days since I was made to kill Felix... and although I can't help but to still feel guilty over his death, I know that I can't really show it as much as I had in the past. I've been stuck here for a month now, so I know that my chances of possibly getting recused may be getting higher as more time moves on. With that being said, I can't let Ohm or Delirious see just how upset I still am. I can't die now after going through all of this, doing everything I've done. I just need to keep waiting for just a bit longer, until recuse finally comes.

However, with this in my mind, it doesn't stop me from softly crying when I wake up to the sun hitting my face through the bars on the window. I'm happy to have clean clothes and to have the blood washed off of me, thanks to Ohm buying me the clothes and allowing me to wash myself in a bucket of water that he brought down a couple of days ago, but part of me can still see the dried up, reddish-brown stains that were stuck to my arms and pants. Part of me doesn't want to forget just how violent Felix's death was, and no matter what anyone says, there is no excusing that as self-defense or an accident like with Max. What I did to Felix was straight-up murder... I am a murderer... a monster...

Wiping away my tears, I sit up and reach over, grabbing the copy of The Hunger Games and opening it at where I had dog-eared last night before the lights went out. I've already gotten more than halfway through the story, so I'll more than likely be able to get started on the next book by noon or by nightfall at the latest. A small smile slowly makes its way onto my face as my eyes then start to move across the page, silently reading the words and slowly getting pulled back into the fucked up world of kids being forced to kill kids story is set in, taking me away from the nightmare I'm currently living. Just as I was starting to really get into the story, however, I can't help but notice something move past the window, causing a shadow to cast over me. 

My eyes widen before I look up and just stare at the small window, waiting for something to happen. I'm waiting to see if it's just my mind playing tricks on me, to see if I have finally gone insane, or to see if it was real. Gulping, I slowly close the book and set it beside me, listening intently for a voice or for movement of some sort. _If that was the shadow, then maybe that means that's a chance for me to be saved. A chance for me to get out of here. I could finally go home... as long as that shadow wasn't from Ohm._

My eyes still heavily fixed on the window, I slowly start to stand up, hoping that it will allow me to see more. However, after a minute, my short dream of recuse comes to an end as I see something small with white and brown fur run by the window, his body casting a shadow over my legs as he passes, nose to the ground. Letting out a sigh, I start mentally kicking myself for thinking that it would be that simple for me to get recused. However, my disappointment doesn't hang around for too long. After all, there's still a dog walking around just outside the window.

I walk over to the window, keeping my eye on the chain to see just how much room I have with it. A smile soon grows on me again once I see that it is just long enough for me to get to the other side of the room, with just enough room for me to lift my hands up to the window. However, I won't be able to get them through the bars, so petting the dog isn't much of an option for me. _But even if I can just pet its snout, it's better than nothing._

Bringing my hands down and licking my lips, I whistle a bit, trying to call the dog over. After a couple of seconds, I wait to see if the dog will come before I try whistling again, this time, causing the small dog to walk over and sniff around the bars. Smiling, I reach my hand up and try to scratch its muzzle, only to pull back when it starts growling at me. Biting my cheek, I think about to something Tyler told me all the way back in high school and decide to see if he was full of shit or if the trick would work.

Keeping my hands flat, I turn them so that the palms of my hands are facing down and slowly lift my hands as high up as I can, allowing the dog to put its nose through the bars and sniff my hands for a bit. When it doesn't growl or bark or pull away, I slowly turn one of my hands to the side and start scratching its muzzle. I can't help but smile at this, solely because this simple interaction is honestly meaning way too much to me than it should. An interaction that doesn't feel forced or cold. An interaction with something that isn't my kidnappers or someone that I'm going to lose in a matter of hours. 

_I should have gone out with the guys more often. I should have talked to them more than I did. God, I regret cutting them all off so much more than I ever thought possible..._

After a bit, the dog backs away from the bars and runs off to do whatever. Letting out a sigh, I turn away from the window as well and walk back to the wall, sitting on the floor against it before picking up the book again and going back to reading. Time soon flies by, and before I could get to the climax of the story, I'm pulled out of the world my mind was allowing me to escape to by the sound of the door opening. I don't know exactly how much time has gone by, but I know that my stomach is starting to growl, and whatever food Ohm has is actually starting to smell good. Dog-earing the page, I close the book and set it down on top of the other two books and move them out of the away, to keep anything from spilling on them. 

After a bit, Ohm steps off the staircase and walks over to me, placing down a bowl of cinnamon oatmeal and some fruit in front of me. Feeling my mouth start to water from the scent, I grab the bowl and bring it up to my mouth, allowing some of it to pour in, and feeling some of it spill over on the corners of my mouth.

"Jesus, I fed you last night, right," Ohm laugh before he leans up against the wall.

Swallowing what's in my mouth, I place the bowl down on the tray, a little more than half of the oatmeal being left, and I wipe my face with my arm. "You did. I just love the taste of cinnamon, so smelling it alone just made me extremely hungry."

"Oh really," Ohm hums, a smirk creeping onto his face. "I'll remember that for later."

The spark in his eyes quickly causes my stomach to start turning, almost making me want to throw up the warm oatmeal I can now feel sitting at the bottom of it. "What do you mean?"

"Nothing. Just finish eating. I've got a little surprise for you."

"A surprise? What-"

"Finish eating and I'll get the surprise." I raise an eyebrow, a bit nervous and concerned by what Ohm has planned, but I know that fighting him or pushing him won't get me anywhere. So, letting out a sigh, I grab the bowl and start eating again.

Once I'm done with everything on the tray, Ohm takes the tray and leaves, not saying anything to me. My stomach immediately starts to twist and turn as I move onto my knees and wait for Ohm to come back. After a minute or two, the door to the stairs finally opens and I hear Ohm walking down it. Once he steps off the final step and turns to me, I gasp and I can feel my eyes widen. In his arms is the small dog that came by the window earlier.

"I couldn't help but notice this little mutt hanging around the window earlier. You wouldn't happen to know why that was, would you?"

I look up to him and see that he has a serious expression on his face that is far too hard to read. I can't tell if he's mad, disappointed, or what. All I know is that I don't want anything to happen to the poor little creature in his arms. "I... I saw it and just wanted to see if I could pet it through the bars. I didn't hurt it or anything, and I wasn't trying to use it in any way! I swear!"

"How did you get the mutt to come to the window?"

"I just whistled a couple of times when I saw it run by."

He stares down at me for a bit, and his eyes feel almost like burning hot stones on my back. I don't know why, but I can't help but feel guilty for dragging the poor little puppy into this. So, I hang my head and shut my eyes tightly, hoping that nothing happens to the dog. It's when I do this that I hear Ohm say, "Tiny, how many times have I told you to stop going on this side of the house?"

The moment I hear his voice change from serious to somewhat playful, my eyes widen and I snap my head up so fast that I feel a little lightheaded. However, when I look up, I'm shocked to see Ohm holding the puppy close to his face, kissing it on its neck as the puppy tries to lick him. My jaw drops. "Wait... What?"

"Oh come on, were you not paying attention at all on your way here? The nearest neighbor from us is miles away. There's no way a dog this size would be about to run miles through the woods and come out both alive and in one piece."

"... So... that's your dog?"

"Of course. This is Tiny." When he says this, he holds the dog out in front of him before leaning down and putting him down on the floor. After he does this, the dog starts looking around, sniffing the floor as he starts to explore the new room. "I just wanted to know what the hell he was doing by the window and how you got him over to it."

After sniffing around on the other side of the room for a bit, the dog... Tiny run over to me and starts sniffing around me before coming up to me, sniffing my hands. "However, I want to make one thing clear, Evan." When he says this, I look up to him and feel my shadow shrink at the sight of his glare. "If you see anyone or anything walking around outside again, you better not say anything, whistle, or go near that window. As I said, the nearest neighbor is miles away. The chances of anyone being here and **NOT** knowing what we do already is extremely thin."

"Wait, not knowing?"

"We have a few people that know what we do. They're the only ones who come here, and they will be the ones to tell us if they see you trying to get out via messager. So, take this as your warning. Don't go near that window again."

I gulp but look down when Tiny starts pawing at my hand, telling me he wants attention. Letting out a sigh, I start rubbing his little head, making him seemingly happy and start to wag his tail. This causes me to smile a bit before I look up at Ohm with a more serious expression. "I won't... I swear."

"You better. And if Tiny goes near that window again, just ignore him. If he is bugging me about you, I'll bring him down, but I don't want him to get used to you, just in case."

"I... I understand."

Looking back down to Tiny, I lift up my hands and see him start to spin in a circle, wanting to play so bad. _You're lucky you can't understand what we're talking about... I don't think you would be this happy if you could._


	22. Dependent

My stomach growls loudly as I look up to the small window to my little room. The moon is fully out, shining a bright yellow from behind the trees. It's got to be late into the evening already... but I haven't seen anyone at all today or yesterday.

Ohm hadn't come down to give me anything to eat all day yesterday or today. Delirious hasn't come by yet to give me a "check" to make sure I'm not injured. Nothing... and my stomach is starting to twist as my mind starts looking for a reason as to why this is.

Pushing myself up, I start to pace from one end of the room to the other, feeling too anxious to sit anymore. _What if this is their idea for the next round? What if they're tired of me and are doing this to kill me off? A slow, painful death via starvation. I wouldn't put it past them to do this..._

_Or what if the police finally found something to link them to all the kidnappings and the murders?! The police could have arrested them earlier in the morning and I didn't hear them, or they could have left the house and had gotten arrested then!_ My heart starts pounding heavily in my chest as this thought came into my mind. If only because if they had been arrested and I haven't been rescued yet brings something somewhat terrifying to mind. _What if the police don't know I'm down here, and they are relying on Ohm or Delirious to tell them?! Those jackasses could lie or keep quiet about where I am?! I could die down here while the police are looking for me!_

I bite down hard on my cheek as I feel sweat start to build up on my forehead. _What if they got bored of me or got tipped off that the cops were onto them?! What if they just decided to pack up and leave me here?! If they did decide to just pack up and leave; would they really just leave me behind?! Would they come back to pick me up and force me to do this somewhere else, or am I going to die slowly and alone down here?!_

Just as I was finishing up that final thought, I'm pulled out from my mind and let out a scream once I hear a single loud honk from a car hork. Shaking from both my thoughts and the car hork, I lean up against the wall, pressing my shoulder into it, and just stare at the window again. "That... that was the signal... So they are still here." Letting out a sigh of relief, I start to calm myself down before I look over to the window again.

_... If they're still here, then why hasn't anyone come down here? What are they doing?_

My eyes suddenly widen as something clicks in my head. Something that I was trying so hard to avoid, but without knowing it, it managed to happen anyways. I had started to become dependent on Ohm and Delirious.

I'm depending on them for food, water, and company. Three things that I took for granted not too long ago, and now I'm looking towards these monsters for. To the point where I'm worried after a couple of days of them being gone. _This shouldn't be a thing! I shouldn't look to them like this! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH ME?!_

Shaking my head, I take a couple of steps back until I'm pressed up against my wall again. I start taking deep breaths to calm myself down as I try to not think about anything other than a plan to get out of here or to live long enough to get out of here with whoever Ohm drags down those stairs tonight. After all, there has to be a way out of here. The police have to have some idea of where I am by now. I... I just need to remind myself this, and I need to outlive this stupid nightmare without hurting anyone else.

Letting out a sigh, I lean my head back and shut my eyes, trying to relax as I remind myself about what it is that I need to do. However, after I hear a click and my eyes shoot up, I feel my heart jump into my throat. The lights had turned off.

_What the fuck?! How much time has gone by?! What time is it?! Ohm said the lights turned off at two in the morning! It can't be two already! How could time have gone by so fast!?_

Trying to keep myself from screaming, I look around the room, confused and worried as I see that the only thing that is lighting up the room is the moonlight. This makes my heart start to beat harder as I continue to question why the lights had gone out. If it was really two in the morning, then I can't help but worry over how much time has gone by.

_Time... another thing I seemed to have taken for granted, and now I'm worrying over how much as gone by. How many weeks have passed me by while I'm locked away? How close is anyone from finding me? How much longer do I have to wait? Has another day gone by... Why has so much time gone by without seeing either of the two?_

Shaking my head and taking a couple more deep breaths to try to calm myself down, I look up to the window and stare at the full moon. The trees start to wave a bit more as the wind starts to pick up, bringing in some sound to the quiet night. However, that is before I start to hear grunting coming from outside. Confused, I take a couple of steps forward, getting closer to the window to see if I can get a glimpse of where the noise is coming from.

Curiosity grows as the noise slowly starts to get louder with each passing second. Then, the source of the noise comes into view. A leg comes into view of the window, the direction it's facing telling me that the person dragging it is walking backward. Before I can even question what's happening, I get the answer to the question when I see an unconscious body getting dragged across the lawn.

This makes me jump back and gasp. _They have always brought the person down here first! What the hell is going on?! Why is all of this happening?! Is that guy..._

Shaking, I slowly start to walk away from the window, every step I take is at an angle so that I can curl up next to the stairs for a faster getaway if needed. However, once I'm close to the stairs, I feel someone wrap their arms around my chest, pulling me closer to the stairs. I scream and try to struggle to get out of the person's arms, however, all that I manage to do is get slammed into the wall and I feel something getting shoved into my neck. Looking up at the top of the stairs, I notice that the door is wide open and Tiny is staring down at me. Watching me.

I try to push the body off of me, but no matter how much I struggle, they keep me pinned to the wall. It doesn't take too long for me to realize who's pressed against me, but I don't stop fighting until the drug fully takes over, forcing me to sleep as I stare up at the innocent little dog.

The next time I open my eyes, I immediately scan the room and take note that I'm in the "game room", as I guess I should call it. All of the lights are on, showing off every blood stains like pieces of art, and allowing me to see just how dark some of the stains are becoming. Looking to my right, I see someone curled up in a ball in the corner, shaking as he tells himself to wake up. He is the next victim to this horror show.

Taking a deep breath and trying to ignore my stomach as it growls again, I look around and get myself ready. The next round is about to begin.


	23. Hungry

As I start to stand up, I quickly took notice of the chains wrapped around my waist. Nothing necessarily new, but something already caused me a great deal of discomfort. Looking around the room itself, I quickly notice that it is much brighter than it has been in the past. At least, brighter than what they've done for the start of a round.

Looking over to the strawberry blond crying in the corner, I press my lips together nervously before I even take my first step towards him. He is in a much different state than Max, John, and Felix, but that is what makes me worried. I don't know how close he is to snapping, I don't know how fast he will turn against me, I don't know how he will react to just realizing that I'm here and breathing. However, I need to talk to him. I need to trust him. If there's going to be a chance to get out of here, I need to work with him to outlast these bastards and get out of here.

Unlike the round that I was made to play against Max, this guy and I aren't chained together, nor are we chained on the opposite side of the room from each other. Instead, we are both placed on the same wall, opposite the door. We are able to reach each other with ease, but I don't think we have enough chain to reach the halfway point of the room.

Once I'm right next to the crying man, I take a deep breath and put on a friendly smile before kneeling down and gently placing my hand on his back. This, however, doesn't go as well as I would have liked. The moment my hand touched his shoulder, he jumps out of his ball and starts screaming, pushing himself more into the corner. The fear in his bright blue eyes causes my heart to drop in my stomach. _I've... I've seen this look before... **No... I don't-**_

Shaking my head, I force myself to take a deep breath and try to calm my nerves. _He just woke up in a bloody room,_ I tell myself. _Anyone would be scared, I was scared... He isn't Felix. He isn't Max. He isn't John._

Once I calm myself down, I bring my attention back to the crying man in front of me. He's shaking like a chihuahua left out in the middle of a winter night. I don't know how long he's been like this, but I can only guess that he's been up for a while. All the other guys said that they were. "Hey, it's okay," I tell him in a calming voice. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"Who are you," he asks, his voice trembling as he speaks. "I thought you were fucking dead. What is this place? Why am I here? Am I fucking dead?"

"Alright," I yell out, making him flinch and press himself into the wall again. "Alright," I say again, much calmer to try to put him at ease as much as I can. "I know that you're scared and there are a million things going on now, but you need to stay as calm as possible. Panicking isn't going to get you or I anywhere."

"What do you mean?"

"I'll explain everything, but first, I want to know who you are. Do you mind telling me your name and how you got here?"

"Are you a cop?"

"No, but I'm hoping that us talking is enough to buy us time until the cops find us. So, do you mind telling me your name and how you got here?"

"I'm Bryce... the last thing I remember was meeting Ray at my fraternity's party and he said he was taking me back to his place."

Gulping, I tell him who I am and I start explaining the entire story and situation. To no surprise, this makes him start panicking again. Rolling my eyes as he freaks out, I start looking around again and start checking to see if there is some way to get out of there. I start by looking at the chains, which are connected to a hook in the middle of the wall behind where I was sleeping. The hook looks like it wasn't built into the wall itself, so I start tugging on it, trying to see if I could pull it out. After a couple of minutes of tugging on my chain and Bryce's, I realize that there's no pulling ourselves free. Next, I try to see how long the chain is so I can get an idea of how far we could walk. As I guessed, they gave us enough chain to allow us to walk to the just before the middle of the room, but nothing more. Once I do that, I walk back over to the wall and sit against the wall.

_They're keeping us on a leash to keep us from attacking them or trying to run away. That's all I've got from this. But why? What are they planning this time? What sick game do they have planned for this round?... Why do I keep calling it again?_

Groaning, I lean my head against the wall and start rubbing my eyes with the palm of my hands. A month and a half of this hell has really started to mess with me. These bastards are starting to get to me. _I don't want to be anything like them. I don't want to be anything like what they want me to be. So why do I keep calling this a game, even when just thinking about it in my head? Thinking about this as if it was a game is just as bad as calling it a game out loud. Thinking about how badly I want to stay alive and distrusting Bryce isn't going to get me out of here. It's only going to make this worse... So why do I keep thinking like this?_

"What are those things on the ceiling," Bryce asks. I don't know when he stopped crying or how long I have been inside my own head, but his voice sounds a lot calmer than it did before. Taking a shaky breath to try to calm myself down, I move my hands away from my eyes and I look towards where he's staring.

"Those are speakers and vents."

"Why are there speakers here?"

I feel pressure start to build up in my stomach and chest as I think back to the nightmare from last week. The sobbing, the begging, the pleads for just a call to let them know that we're okay. It all hits me and causes my body to start shaking as I try to fight back the tears as well as the vomit that wants to come up. Looking down at my own hands, I swear, I could see the blood still covering them. With a single blink though, just as fast as it had appeared, it was gone.

Once I get out of here, I seriously need to get help.

"They're," I start, my voice shaking a little. "They're there so those bastards can talk to us whenever they want to fuck with us."

"Does that mean they're-"

"Watching us and listening to us? Yeah." I force myself to look away from my hands and I lightly hit my head against the wall behind me. "To them, they see this as a game that they are in control of, while we're the playing pieces... But the police have to have some clue on where we are by now... It doesn't make sense on why they wouldn't."

"I mean, maybe. It doesn't really make sense for five months to go by without finding anything."

"Exactly!... We... We just have to wait for help to come," I say mostly to myself at this point. "Well, let's just try to get to know each other a bit more. We're going to be in here for a while. We might as well use it by trying to get to know a bit more about each other."

"Sure, but a quick question before we start." He looks over to the door and asks, "How long do they normally take before coming in here?"

I shrug. "Honestly, I don't know. In the first two rounds, they were already in the room by the time I woke up. However, they apparently kept us waiting for a full day before coming in the last round... or, they kept us asleep for that long."

"So, they could be leaving us in here for days on end and we wouldn't know it?"

I look over to where Max was chained up as I think about the first round. "They could... and they have. The longest they've had me in here was three days."

Bryce gulps loudly and looks back over to me. "You don't think that they'll do that to us, do you?"

I bite my lip and try to ignore my growling stomach as the thought of waiting here for days comes to mind. Why am I so hungry? I went for three days without eating before.

"Let's not worry too much about that. Let's just keep talking and try to pass the time. So, how long have you been in the town," I ask, trying to distract him and myself as best I can.

It doesn't take too long for the conversation to get rolling, and I can happily push the worry of the round and my hunger to the back of my mind. This is always the easy part. It's easy to talk to someone you're locked in a room with. It's easy to get to know someone you could have been a friend with if you meet under different circumstances. For a moment, it is an easy distraction and an escape on its own.

However, now I have to worry about the hard part. _How am I going to get us both out of here? How am I going to make sure that both Bryce and I get to go home to our friends and families? Can I trust **that he won't try to kill me? What if he's faking this? What if the second Ohm and Delirious come in and tell us what we need to do to get out of here, he does it?**_

I feel my stomach start to twist as it loudly growls again, causing me to grab it and clench my teeth. _Why am I reacting like this? Why am I so hungry all of a sudden?... And what's that smell?_

As the question comes to my mind, I look up to the ceiling and start sniffing the air a bit. My mouth starts watering and my eyes grow wide as a familiar and delicious scent hits me. "Do you smell cinnamon," Bryce then asks, confirming what I was thinking.

"Yeah," I answer, gulping as I feel my stomach start to growl again. Regret starts to hit me as I think back to the day Ohm introduced me to Tiny. I should have known better than to tell him how much I liked the taste of cinnamon. I should have known by that creepy smile that he was going to do something like this. The fact that I didn't think of it was so stupid of me, but now it leaves me with another question.

"What are they planning that would involve making the room smell like cinnamon?"

"I don't know... You don't think they're planning making us starve to death and tease us with the smell of food, do you?"

"I doubt it. In the first game, they tied me to another person and made us crawl to kill each other with a gun. The second, they made us hang each other. The third made us stab each other with a knife shoved into a block. They don't want to kill us or make it something simple. They want to do it with a twist and they want the blood to be on our hands, not theirs."

"So then, maybe they want you to kill me. So they're going to use your hunger against me."

Sweat quickly starts to build up on my hands as I listen intently to each and every word he says. "Even if they were using hunger, it's going to take more than just the scent of food to make me want to kill anyone." Once I'm done talking, I hear another growl, but it wasn't coming from my stomach this time.

Looking down at Bryce's stomach, I ask the first thing that comes to mind. "How long has it been since you've eaten?"

"... It depends on what day it is. If it's still Friday, then I haven't eaten since 8 am. I didn't get a chance to eat lunch because I was behind on a project, and I was planning on eating at the party... That was until I met Ohm... Did he know that I was hungry too?"

"No, they told me that they get their targets by finding someone they think they could get to follow them home. They don't stalk anyone."

"So by dumb luck, they grabbed me and decided to use the smell of food to make us want to kill each other?"

"I guess... But you wouldn't be pushed to killing someone so fast over a smell, right?"

"Of course I wouldn't. Besides, that's just a smell."

With a light chuckle, I look down and sigh, trying to ignore the uneasy feeling that is quickly starting to eat at my heart and mind. Distrust has already started to rear its ugly head, but I can't let it win. I need to keep trying to build this trust before the game starts. I need to stay calm and think clearly.

Trying to hide my nerves, I smile and look up to Bryce before I continue talking to him. After a long while, I start to feel extremely tired again, and Bryce starts yawning every time he starts to talk, making me yawn as well. It isn't until this point that we start questioning what time it was and how long we had been awake. It also makes me start to worry as another day may have gone by without food.

I try to fake positivity as I suggest getting some sleep, assuring Bryce that they wouldn't hurt us and that I wouldn't try to hurt him either. With that promise, we go over to the wall we're chained to, sit in the two corners, and slowly drift to sleep with our heads resting on the wall. After some more time, I wake up first... or at least, I think that I do. However, once I wake up, I look towards the middle of the room and I feel my jaw drop. Right in front of us, directly in the middle of the room, is a plate covered in crumbs and a mess of powdered sugar and syrup. Not only that, but the sweet cinnamon scent that had filled the room earlier was gone.

_**No... No... Did they really give us food? When?! And... Did Bryce really eat it without waking me up?** _

Looking over to Bryce, I see him slowly open his bright, blue eyes before he yawns and starts stretching his arms up, popping his back. I can feel my body start to shake as I watch him, anger quickly starting to build as I think about him getting to eat, while I'm going on day three or four without anything.

When Bryce looks over to the middle of the room as well, I see his jaw drop before he looks over to me. "Why didn't you tell me they gave us something to eat," he asks, shocked and angry. However, I can't tell if it was fake or not.

"Why didn't I tell you?! Why didn't you tell me?! You know I've been going days without eating, and this is what I wake up to?! You pretending to be asleep and an empty plate?!"

"What do you mean, pretending?! I was actually asleep!"

I growl, and am about to say something, but stop when I hear the clicking of a lock. I snap my head and look over towards the door. With a loud creak, the door is pushed open, and Ohm walks in with a bucket and a rope in hand. He smiles at us before looking down at the floor. "Ah, I see Delirious wasn't lying when he said he gave you two food to share this morning. That's good, because, this round is going to take you both quite a while to complete." He then looks back to us, and I see his smile twist a little as darkness comes to his eyes. "Or at least, I hope you two shared it."

Pressing my lips together, I watch as Ohm walks over to where the plate is before he puts the bucket down with the rope on top of it. Grabbing the plate, I watch as he turns away and walks out of the room, only to come back with a stepstool. Going back to the middle of the room, he sets up the little stepstool before he grabs the bucket and gets on top of it. For a second, I think about pushing him off of that thing and making a run for it, but I keep myself seated. As badly as I want to get out, I'm not exactly stupid. Pushing him over could hurt him, but it isn't guaranteed to kill him. Plus, after he is knocked over, it wouldn't change the fact that the chains don't go all the way over to the door. I would be stuck here unless Ohm has the keys. And if he doesn't, and he ends up really hurt, I know Delirious wouldn't hesitate to kill me himself.

So instead, I watch as he ties the bucket to one of the bars in front of the vent before he lets it drop. When this happens, the bucket drops to the floor, splashing a bit of water on the ground in front of Bryce and I, however, a block of ice stays hanging on the rope. Ohm hums a bit before he steps off of the stepstool. "I guess I should have left it in the freezer for a bit longer, but we've been waiting for so long."

"What is this," I ask, worried.

"What do you think? This is your next round." Tapping on the block of ice, he says, "Inside of this block is a key that will unlock both of your chains. It's an old copy, and it's close to breaking. Hell, I can't even promise that it will last long enough for both of you to unlock it. All I can say is if you can manage to get out of your chains, you'll be able to both eat, and have the chance to leave. If one of you dies, however, you will have to go through the next round next week. All you'll have to do is wait for the ice to thew out."

"Where's Delirious," I ask, looking around him to try to get a peek outside.

"What? Am I not enough for you two," he teases.

"No, but you two always do this together. For him to not be here is not normal for you two."

"Well, if you must know, he got called into work early. He was really upset that he wasn't going to be able to see this round, but he's a good man. He trusts me to do this on my own, and I don't plan to disappoint. Now, you know the rules of the game," he starts as he starts to walk back towards the door. "And you know the prizes for getting out of here. So, the game starts now."

With those final words, like always, he steps out of the room and slams the doors shut behind him, locking them after him. This makes me roll my eyes. _A chance to get out of here? I highly doubt that could ever happen._

Crossing my arms, I lean back into the wall and stare up to the block of ice hanging from the ceiling. It's so thick that it's hard to see what is in it, but I could believe that there is a key hidden deep inside of it. "If there is a key inside that thing, we should just break it and hope it can unlock both of our chains," I then say, looking over to Bryce, who is also staring at it.

"No," he then says, shaking his head. "We don't know how long that has been frozen or what temperature it was done at. If the key is still at a low enough temperature, then it will be brittle and could break if we smash the ice. We should just wait for the ice to melt and for the key to warm up. Then, there may be a better chance for it to work for both of us and we could both get out."

I sigh and nod my head. "Alright... I'll believe you."

He and I try talking again, trying to ignore the tension still hanging in the room from earlier, but we soon stop when the door is unlocked again and a familiar scent hits me again. My mouth starts to water before the door even opens to reveal Ohm holding another plate, this one having steaming hot food on it. "I almost forgot, I needed to give you guys a little motivation. So, whenever you guys are hungry," he starts. He then walks close to where the block of ice is, but he then turns around and places the food pass it. Pass where the chains will allow us to go. Standing back up, he looks over to us with that same evil smile before laughing as he says, "I'll leave this right here for you. Good luck," he then finishes before walking back out of the room. This time, he doesn't lock it.

_These bastards are fucked up in so many damn way._


	24. Pushed Too Far Over Something So Small

"Come on," Bryce groans as he stretches his arm out as far as he could. It's been a few minutes since Ohm had walked out of the room, and the idea of just how far out of reach the plate before us quickly came up in conversation. Bryce is taller than me, so he decided to see if it is possible for him to reach the plate to bring it closer to us. However, that hasn't been working. I even gave him the bucket Ohm left to see if he could use the handle of the bucket itself to reach it, however, it hasn't changed anything.

Sighing, I lean back into the wall and press my head against it. "I don't think this is going to work."

"What; you're breaking up with me already?"

"No, I mean trying to get the food. I don't think reaching for it or trying to drag it over with the bucket is going to work."

"You're giving up pretty quickly," he replies, looking back to me.

"What's going to change in the next three attempts that hasn't changed on the first twenty?"

"You don't know what could change if you don't try."

"And you don't know what could hurt you until it's too late, and I don't want you to strain yourself."

After I say this, his eyes narrow at me, almost as if he was thinking about what I was saying or maybe he was glaring at me. However, after a few seconds, he sighs and sits up. "I guess you're right." Throwing the bucket back to where he had grabbed it, he stands up and starts messing with his shirt a bit, pulling at it to pull it away from him. "There's so much water," he complains before walking over to his corner and sitting down.

After he goes and sits down, the two of us go silent. Part of me wants to try to talk to him again, try to bring up something, anything that could start a long conversation to drown out the silence, but another part of me holds back. I can't stop thinking about the plate that was in the middle of the room when we woke up. I know that it is possible for that to be a trick to make Bryce and I distrust each other, but there is still the chance that there was actually food on that plate, just like the one in front of me. Plus, when I saw the last plate, there were crumbs on it. It looked like something had been eaten on it, but was it really Bryce?

I gulp and look up to the block of ice, seeing small beads building up and slowly slipping down the sides.

_**Is it a good idea to trust Bryce? What if he snaps like them? How do I know that after spending hours to days talking to this bastard, he isn't going to jump on me and try to choke me? Or bash my brains into the wall? Or crack my skull with the fucking bucket?! Why should I trust him?!** _

"How thick do you think that block of ice is," Bryce then asks, ripping me out of my mind.

"Wh-what," I spit out, my mouth feeling a lot drier than it was a minute ago.

"Well, if there is a key in there, it's hard to see it due to how cloudly the ice is. And it's going to take forever for the ice to melt on its own."

"Are you suggesting that the key is a lie and that waiting for the ice to melt is pointless?"

"Not really. I mean, you said so yourself, they have lied in the past about what needed to be done to get out of here. However, I don't know if it is pointless to wait for that ice to melt. We aren't going to know what's in there until after it is gone."

"You already said that breaking it was too dangerous. If there is a key in there, there's a chance that it could be brittle."

"I know, and that is still true, but maybe we can find a way to speed up the melting instead. That way, we will even know if there is a key in there, we can get out of here, and go look for help."

I can feel my eyes light up as he speaks. "That's a great idea, but how are we going to heat it up?"

He looks down at his shirt, which is still wet from the water that had splashed on the floor before, and then he looks up to the ice. "I got an idea. Help me out though."

We both stand up and I follow him as he walks over to the block of ice. He then takes off his shirt and wraps it around the bottom of it before he motions for me to come closer. I do, and he pushes the block of ice into my hands.

"Whatever you do, do not drop this. We can't risk it breaking."

I nod and pull the block close to my chest. Even through his shirt, I can still feel the air around it instantly drop in temperature. Keeping an arm under it and holding onto it for dear life, I then watch as Bryce wraps his hands around the rope and start pulling on it. I watch as he tugs on the rope continuously, wrapping it around his hands at one point to keep a tight grip on it. After a while, I start to see the rope doing more damage to him than he is doing to it.

"Bryce, maybe you should stop," I speak up, looking at his hands that are down a few levels of skin and looking only a few more minutes away from actually bleeding.

He looks over to me, his blue eyes feeling as cold as the ice. "It's fine, Evan," he growls at me.

"I just don't want you to get hurt."

"I already said it's fine, Evan! I would rather have a hurt hand than a split head!"

My eyes widen and I feel my heart start to pick up a little after hearing that. _**He thinks I'm going to kill him.**_ I feel my body start to shake a bit as I watch him continue to tug on the rope. _**I... I don't want to die...**_ Biting my cheek, I watch him, feeling my heart pound heavily in my chest. It's deafening. I can't even hear his grunts bouncing off of the stone walls anymore even though he is only a foot away from me. 

_**I don't want to die. I can't die. I'm not going to. I'm not going to let this bastard kill me first! I'm not going to! I'm not! I'm not! I'm not! I'm not! I'm not! I'm not!** _

"Got it," I suddenly hear Bryce say, pulling me out of my mind.

"What," I blink before looking up to the ceiling, seeing that the hook was ripped out, leaving a hole where it once was. I then look towards the ground, right in front of Bryce and see that the hook is on the floor, a few inches away from him. My jaw drops and slowly forms into a smile until I see the blood staining the rope in Bryce's hand. "I knew you would hurt yourself," I scold him, placing the block of ice on the floor before I grab his wrist, making him open his hand for me.

"It's just some broken skin," Bryce comments as he rolls his eyes. "It's really not a big deal."

He was right. Although there are smugging across his palm from him pulling on the rope, it wasn't deep, and the bleeding would stop in a couple of minutes now that he didn't need to pull on the rope anymore. At worst, all he feels is a little burning. "Try icing it for a bit, to at least make the redness die down."

He chuckles a bit but agrees, walking over to the block of ice and kneeling next to it. As he starts rubbing his hand alongside the ice, I look over to the plate in front of us. Now that I was so close, I could see what was on it. It was just a plate of cookies, but even that was enough to make my stomach growl again. They weren't as hot as when Ohm had brought them in, but they were still warm enough to send the sweet scent of cinnamon my way, making my mouth water.

_"I know that it isn't the same as a birthday cake," I can hear my dad say in a far off memory. "But it's all I could get. I'm sorry I forgot to stop by the store, Ev... No, it's fine. Working overtime isn't so bad. Besides, I got my boss to let me have Friday off, so now I can keep my promise to have that father-son day with you like you wanted!... Haha, okay, okay, now try a cookie. It's getting late and I don't want you staying up past your bedtime again... It's good, right! It used to be your mom's favorite. It's called a snickerdoodle... Hahahaha, I know, it is a funny name! Now, come on, big guy! It's time for bed."_

Gulping, I stare at the plate for much longer than I knew, only moving when I felt a freezing cold hand on the back of my neck, making me up. "Evan, are you okay," Bryce asks, looking at me with a mixture of worry and confusion.

I quickly take a deep breath before I flash him a smile. "Yeah, I'm okay." I then looked back to the plate of cookies and slowly look down at the rope in front of us. That when an idea finally comes to me. "Hey, Bryce, do you think you can swing that hook around the plate?"

Bryce looks down at the rope and at the plate, his eyes widening as he quickly connects the dots as well. I take a couple of steps back and watch as he leans over and grabs the rope, pulling some of it through his hands as he stares at the plate, trying to get an idea of how much he's going to need. Then, he kneels down and grabs the hook, never taking his eyes off of the plate, as if by doing so would allow the plate the chance to disappear. He then threw the rope, almost as if he was skipping a rock across a pond, pulling it a little in order to make it swing around the plate and have the hook come back to him. However, he didn't give himself enough rope to make it come back to him all the way, so it stopped a good distance from him.

"Shoot," he groans before standing up. I quickly run over to the bucket and pick it up, knowing that it will at the very least reach the hook.

Walking over to Bryce, I lay down on my stomach and grab the bottom of the bucket, making the handle stick out and turning it onto the side. Bryce instructs me how to move the bucket before I finally manage to get the hook around the handle, allowing me to pull it and the plate, to us. Once we have the plate of cookies in front of us, Bryce and I get onto our knees and both grab one, almost immediately taking a bite and moaning from the sweet taste. The cookie itself was soft with the bottom of it being a bit crisp, but the cinnamon taste has always been my favorite part of the cookie.

Once Bryce and I eat our first cookies, we both grab another and look over to the block of ice again. As we eat, Bryce walks me over to the block and starts explaining his idea to me. "It may be a bit uncomfortable, but I think this might be the best way for us to melt the ice faster."

"Well, what is it?"

"Have you ever heard that bullshit about if you're trapped in the cold that body heat is the best thing to keep you warm?"

"No."

"Well, it's bullshit a lot of guys use to get a girl to fuck them, but it is also true. Body heat is a really good way to keep yourself warm, as well as others. Including a block of ice."

"So you're suggesting that we use our body heat to melt the ice?"

"Exactly. What I'm thinking is that we should take turns sitting on the ice, which should be just enough for us to melt the ice faster than just watching it."

I look down at the ice again and sigh, "Well, we don't have any other idea. It's worth a shot. But you're going to sit on it first."

"I'm fine with that," he shrugs before turning to look at the plate. "But only if you bring that a little closer."

I nod and walk over, grabbing the plate and walking closer to the block of ice, placing it on the floor before sitting down as well. Bryce then takes a deep breath before he sits down on the block, goosebumps immediately spreading all over his arms. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he says as he nods his head. He then opens one eye and looks over to me. "Just, not going to feel my balls for a while." I chuckle a bit before picking up my third cookie, Bryce reaching over to do the same. 

To pass the time, he and I start making small talk, nibbling on our cookies as we talk. Once we were done with each cookie, we switched place, him sitting back on the floor and me sitting on the ice and understanding where his balls went if they went to the same place as mine. This continued for several minutes, maybe an hour, before we noticed that there were only three cookies left.

"They made them uneven," I say, slightly worried. "So, should we just split the last one?"

"I honestly think I should get it," Bryce then says as he bites into his cookie.

"Wait, what? Why?"

"Well, not only was it was my idea to do this to melt the ice, I was the one who got the plate over here in the first place, and I didn't get to eat whatever was on that first plate."

I grit my teeth before I growl, "Look, I'll give you that sitting on the ice was your idea, but don't act like it's doing that much! The ice hasn't melted all that much since we started! It was also my idea to use to the rope and hook to get the plate, I helped pull it over, and bullshit that you didn't get to eat anything on the first plate! These cookies are the first things I've gotten to eat in three, four, or maybe five days!"

"Oh stop lying about that! I was asleep when the first plate came in-"

"So was I!"

"Well clearly, _SOMEONE_ is lying."

I narrowed my eyes and clench my fist into my jeans, trying so hard to not to hold back my anger. "That someone isn't me, but I'm not going to let this fight go on any more than it needs to. Look, how about we split the last cookie? You get half and I get half."

Bryce seems to glare at me a bit longer before he slowly nods his head. "Okay, fine. It's a deal." Before I could even flinch, Bryce shoves the rest of his cookie into his mouth before jumping up and grabbing the last cookie. I jump to my feet as well, ready to switch off, however, when I see Bryce break the cookie, I feel anger shoot through me.

"I said we should split it in half!"

"Yeah," Bryce comments before holding out the smaller side to me. "And this is your half."

"Bullshit! I'm still fucking starving!"

"How?! You had whatever was on that plate by yourself!"

"I already told you that I didn't eat anything!"

"Then where the hell did the food on the last plate go, Evan?!"

"Well, if I didn't eat it, only one person comes to mind!"

"No! I'm not going to take the blame for something I didn't do!"

"So I should!"

Clenching his teeth, Bryce brings the smaller half of the cookie closer to his chest. "Fine; if you want the bigger half so badly, then here," he then says, holding out the larger half towards me. However, before I even have the chance to reach for it, Bryce lets it go, allowing it to fall and land in a small puddle of water that had been building under us from the block of ice.

I could feel my frustration finally tip over. Part of me wanted to cry because I couldn't take any more of this, however, a larger part of me was tired. I'm tired of having to go through this time and time again. I'm tired of sticking my neck out for the son of a bitch locked in this room with me, only for them to try to kill me or to show me how little they trust me. I'm tired- I'm tired of living through hell, only to have to relive it week after week. 

_**I wonder if this was how Brock felt...** _

With a smug, cocky grin on his face, Bryce takes a bite of his cookie and starts walking back to his corner, however, I don't let him get all the way there. Once he's directly behind me, I turn around and punch him as hard as I can in the side of the head, making him stumble a bit, before he slips on the water under us. I slowly step over him and glare at him, anger pumping through my veins so much that I'm able to feel it. I'm shaking. I'm tired. I'm done.

Picking up the bucket that not too long ago had helped us, I kneel down on Bryce's chest and trap his arms under my legs. I can see that he's still in a bit of a daze from the two blows to the head, but that's not stopping me. Not anymore.

Tears are pouring down my face from my anger, making it hard to see a bit, so I try my best to keep my eyes on those bright baby blues before I raise the bucket over my head and start bringing it down on him. I can feel the morphing in my hands with every swing, and I can hear every time I continue it with him. He's groaning, but not begging for me to stop. I don't think he's aware of what's going on still. I can feel every flinch and spasmodic movement under me. I can hear the gurgling as blood builds up in his throat. I don't know where I'm hitting him, all I know is that I'm breaking bones, I'm hearing splats, I can feel the blood coming back and landing on me, and I don't care anymore.

After some time, I stop, but only when I feel all movement under me stop. I'm still crying, but I don't know from what. The killing and the frustration are two large factors, however, I don't think that's why I'm crying anymore. I think I've run out of tears for those a long time ago.

No, I think I'm crying because I've finally done something that I tried so hard to avoid. No matter how much I fought it, somehow, I've actually managed to become a monster... And I hate it... I hate myself... _Brock, Dad, I'm sorry._


	25. Two Months Later

As my eye slowly drag along each word that is printed on the page in front of me, I can't help but to feel my mind slowly get dragged away from the story that had been playing the little movie in my head. The movie slowly burns away, and I'm trapped thinking about the last three months of my life. The nightmare of fear and death. The number of bodies that had slowly piled up because of me. And the waiting... _How long do I need to keep waiting? Why haven't the police found anything to lead to here yet? How have so many people gone missing, but nothing has led to Ohm or Delirious?_

I shake the thoughts out of my head and look back to my book, starting over at the start of the page, not knowing when exactly my mind had started drifting away. After apparently reading all of the books that Ohm had that his sister got him, he made a point in telling me that he was going to the library now in order to get me some new stories to read. Recently, he picked three Stephen King books for me to read. " _The Shining_ ", " _Doctor Sleep_ ", and " _IT_ ". He told me that if I liked them, he would pick up some more of his work for me, and so far, I am enjoying them. I just wish I could read them before bed, with only candlelight or a small lamp, in order for me to feel a little more intense as I read them.

Letting out a sigh, I look up to the high-noon sun, seeing just the bottom of it through the trees that surround the house. I press my back into the stone wall, free of any chains now, and press my lips together. It's been so long since I've gotten to feel the sun on my skin... I wonder how warm it is right now, or if it's freezing cold... I wonder what the guys have been doing since I disappeared. I wonder if they're still looking for me, or if they've moved on... _I bet Jane is happy to be rid of me..._

I drop my head again and look down to my book, only to stop and look back up towards the window when I hear a familiar barking. This causes a smile to slowly creep across my lips as the adorable little puppy comes to mind. _It's been a couple of weeks since I've seen Tiny... **I wonder if Ohm will let me see him after tonight's round?**_

Turning my attention back down to my book, I flip it over and starting over from the top of the page. However, my eyes widen and I snap my head back up to the window when I hear something new. An unfamiliar voice. "God damn, y'all have really been working on cleaning up this place. Hard to believe this is the same shitty-ass house you guys got for shit all. So I guess this means you guys have no plans on moving anytime soon?"

"I wouldn't say that," Ohm chuckles. "Best way to keep people away is to make your house look like you plan to live in it for years to come. I mean, who else would spend so much time, energy, and money on a place like this if you're going to leave it in a couple of months?"

"Knew telling y'all about that dumbass was a good idea. Best to learn from others' mistakes than your own. Well, when do you guys plan on packing up and getting the fuck out of here?"

"You'll know when we know."

I swallow air as I stand up, my book wrapped in my arms tightly. Part of me wants to start screaming and beg for help, but the fact that this guy, who owns the unfamiliar voice, is talking to Ohm like this just tells me that the two are friends. Ohm's words on having people that knew about this hell come to mind... _This guy must be one of them._

Quickly grabbing the other two books that were on the floor next to me and run over to the staircase, running up them and pressing my back against the door, staying out of sight from the window. After a couple of seconds, I hear the two-step in front of the window, and a bit of rustling and runts, before the unfamiliar voice speaks.

"No chains? I thought you two had someone."

"We do. We're trying something new with this one."

"So, by something new, you mean you're giving him more freedom than any of the others? What else? Do you let him walk himself back to the room by himself?"

"Of course not. That is still done with chains, but we are trying to make him feel a little bit more comfortable."

"Of course, because nothing is more comfortable than sleeping on a cold, stone floor."

"That's a luxury." Ohm then takes a loud, deep breath, before yelling into the room, "Come out," making me jump in surprise. When I land back on the step, I struggle to keep my books in my arms, causing me to drop one of them, which loudly bounces down every step before landing on the spine on the ground. I gulp when I see this and slightly start praying to anything or anyone that could hear me, hoping that I didn't just damage the book.

"What the fuck is that," the unfamiliar voice asked.

My heart pounding, I slowly start walking down the stairs, my eyes never leaving the book in fear of what I would see if I looked at the window. Once I was on the final step, I kneel down and pick up the book, looking it over, and sighing in relief when I see that it isn't damaged.

"Evan," I then hear Ohm say, his voice plain and flat, hiding any emotion that he may have.

I feel my air get caught in my throat a little, but I try not to let it show. Standing up, I walk over to the window and stand up straight, looking up at the two men laying in front of it. To my right, I see Ohm, his expression being flat and unamused. To the left is a man that I have definitely never seen before. He has dark brown hair, pushed back and away from his face, with a brown, longish beard, that is slightly dented by his hand, which is resting just under his chain. Trying not to show any more fear or weakness, I try to say, "Yes Ohm." However, it comes out a lot quieter than I mean for it to. The slight worry and fear from seeing this new guy quickly starts to get to me as I start to wonder just how insane this one is, and if he is anything like Ohm or Delirious.

"This is the bastard that's been killing all those fuckers around town? He's so fucking quiet! And he's a fucking nerd! How?!"

Ohm's expression finally changes a bit, now revealing a smirk as he keeps his eyes on me. "He's actually quite impressive. He holds in a lot of anger, not to mention he is patient. Plus, his innocence makes him come off as if he is easy to take down."

I blush slightly when I hear him say all of this. 

"I can't see that."

Ohm then takes his eyes off of me and looks over to the man next to him. "Then why don't you see it all for yourself. Tonight."

"You know that I have to work."

"Just stop by anytime you'd like. We'll have everything set up and waiting by the time you show up."

The man smiles before saying, "Guess I finally have something to do on a Friday night. You guys got a deal, but this better be good."

The two then get up and start walking away from me, talking as they do, leaving me alone again. Not knowing what else to do, I walk back over to my wall and sit back down, placing all of the books down next to me, before picking up the one I was reading before. Opening it back to the page that I was reading before, I start reading from the top of the page again, slowly making my way down the page, until I am finally starting to get sucked back into the world on the papers.

Some time passes before I get pulled back out of that world again, only this time it is caused by a loud creaking from the top of the stairs. I look up toward the window and raise an eyebrow in confusion. _It isn't even close to sunset yet. Why would anyone be coming down here now?_

Dog-earing the page, I shut the book and move it into the pile next to me before moving so that I could sit on my knees. When I do this, I see Ohm walk down the stairs with something in his hands. A smile quickly comes to my face once I see that it's Tiny.

When Ohm puts the puppy down, he quickly runs over to me, excited to play, and I happily start giving him as much love as I can for however long I get to see him. As I squish his face and kiss his nose, calling him a "good boy", Ohm watches me and smiles at me. Time slowly starts melting away before he walks over and picks him up again.

"The man you saw today is an old friend of both Delirious and I. I expect you to be on your best behavior tonight. Make this round interesting."

"Well, what do you guys have planned for tonight's round?"

"You know damn well that I would never tell you that."

I shrug. "Doesn't hurt to ask."

Ohm chuckles a bit before turning away from and starting to walk up the stairs. "Just don't disappoint us by dying."

I chuckle a bit before looking up to the window. Once the sun completely sets, I'll finally be allowed to eat, and Ohm will leave to find his next pick. _I just need to make it through another round and wait for the police to finally get their shit together and to find me. Then, everything can go back to normal... **If the guys still want to see me.**_


	26. A Familiar Name

My eyes slowly open up, allowing me to see the dimly lit, blood-stained room that I've become far too accustomed to. The familiar, yet new, whimpering instantly tells me that the game has started yet again and that if I want to make it through another day, I need to get through this round alive. This makes me sigh and my heart stops for a second as it starts to break.

Sitting up, I look around the room until I see the new guy, crying in the corner of the room, in a ball. I quickly stretch my back before I stand up and walk over to the new guy, expecting this to go exactly like every other round before now. Walk over, calm the guy down, explain all this bullshit, talk to him for a while before Ohm and Delirious come in to tell us what to do, then I kill him. Simple, to the point, and I get to get out of this room for more time.

Once I walk up to the guy, I kneel down, so that I could be eye level with him, and then I put my hand on his shoulder. When he jumps, freaked out that I'm alive, I'm almost immediately taken aback. The man in front of me... doesn't look like a man. He looks like a kid. At the oldest, a teenager. _Oh god, please be twenty and just look really young._

"What the fuck, man," the kid pretty much screams as his eyes jump from me to where I was laying only a few seconds before. "I thought you were fucking dead! What the fuck is going on?! Who are you?!"

"Whoa, whoa," I quickly start saying, trying to calm him and myself down as I stare into the young eyes in front of me. "It's okay, man. Just relax."

"Relax? Relax?! Look at where the fuck we are! How the fuck am I supposed to relax?!"

"I just mean calm down, okay? Panicking isn't going to help you much here. So, just try to relax, and help me out here. Maybe we can work together to get out of here." After I say that, I start leading him in a few deep breathing excuses to help calm him down. Once that happens, I ask the most important question that comes to my mind. "How old are you?"

"I'm... I'm seventeen."

"Are you being serious right now?" He nods. "What's the last thing that you remember before getting picked up by whoever is doing this? Where were you when you met them and what did they tell you," I ask, panicking as I start to question how Ohm got a seventeen year old to come home with him. Questioning if he even knew how old the kid even is.

"I was... I was at this party."

"What kind? Please be honest with me here?"

"Why?"

"Because I want to make sure that you weren't hurt or anything. As well as how much danger you both were and are in right now."

"Well, I don't think I could get in any more trouble other than this," he tells me with a chuckle, his eyes slowly moving away from me and moving around the room. They then drop, making him let out a sigh before he looks back up to me. "It was a party at one of the frat houses by the college."

"What the fuck where you doing at a college party?"

"It's not what you think, man... I was looking for someone that knew anything about what happened to a friend of mine."

"What are you talking about?"

"A really close friend of mine went to a bar a couple of months ago and came up dead two days later. I just wanted to know what happened to him since the fucking police haven't found shit!"

"If it was a couple of months ago, why are you still looking now?"

"Because the people I've been asking around town haven't been helpful for shit. I tried asking around already, but the assholes kept telling me to stay out of it. So, I thought is I went to a couple of parties or some shit, I could get a couple of drunks to help me out."

"Most drunks can't even remember where the hell they are the next morning."

"Well sitting around and waiting for a fucking answer hasn't been doing anyone any fucking good! There have been killings going on for over seven fucking months! And my fucking brother got caught up in it!" Tears started building up in his eyes as he spoke. "It's fucking bullshit! He was just going out with some fucking friends and then I never saw him alive again! How the fuck are you going to look at me and tell me that I should leave this shit to the police! How is anyone going to fucking look at me and tell me that bullshit?!"

"I know how you feel," I then tell him, moving over and sitting down next to him. "My best friend got caught up in this mess too."

"Did you try finding out what happened to him?"

"... No... I curled up in bed and wished for death because I felt so lost without him. Unlike your friend, my friend's body didn't show up two days later... It showed up four months later."

"You're talking about that Brock guy, aren't you?"

"I am..."

"So, does that make you that Asian guy that disappeared a few months back?"

I chuckle a bit and look over to him with a smirk. "You know it's kind of racist to say that all Asian guys look the same though."

"No," he quickly says, laughing back. "I'm not trying to be racist! I just can't remember the name."

I sigh and look away from him. "Yeah, that's me... Has it really been months though? I haven't seen the sun in forever."

"How did you end up here?"

"My friends and step-mom wanted me to get out, so I went to my friend's party. Met a guy, went home with him, and I woke up in here."

"So... did you do all of this?"

I looked away from him and sighed. "No... but I'm sure there was less in here before I came in here."

"So, wait, what happened in here?"

"... First, you need to tell me how you even ended up here? Did these guys even know how old you were?"

"No, I wasn't going home with him for anything like that. I was going around the party, trying to find someone that knew anything about the last couple of hours before my friend was found dead, but I was having no luck. The last person that I asked was some guy with a cloth over his eyes, told me that he had really sensitive eyes and that the lights from the party made them act up. He also told me that he knew someone that did know about what happened and told me to come with him because it would have been easier... Was this what happened to him?"

"... That depends... what was your friend's name?"

"John."

"John? The name kind of sounds familiar; can you describe him for me?"

"Tall, hair long, blond hair what he always kept messy. He also had a habit of calling everybody "brother"."

My eyes widen as I hear that, and the image of the hanging boy instantly comes back to me, almost knocking me back as I remember how the body had swung ever so slightly from side to side. "... I definitely remember him."

"So you did see him?! He was here?! Well, what happened to him?!"

"... He tried to kill me."

"What?"

"He tried to kill me because he thought that would get him out of here."

"No way! You're full of shit! He would never do something like that?!"

"Is your name Jaren?" Once I ask this, he goes silent and just stares at me in shock. "He told me that he needed to make it out of here for you..."

"... What happened to him?"

I look towards the middle of the room, where he and I were both chained up and forced to stand in the dark. "He was tricked... We were lied to... He killed himself trying to kill me."

"What does that mean?"

Once he asks this, we hear the loud creaking coming from the door as it slowly swings up, revealing Ohm and Delirious, smiling at us with their hands behind their backs. "It means," Delirious then starts before he steps into the room and pulls out a gun from behind his back, pointing it in our direction. "That we are going to have some fun tonight."


	27. Taking a Step Back

Delirious keeps the gun pointed at both Jaren and I as Ohm starts walking around the room, getting everything set up. The first thing Ohm does is he walks over to both of us, making us put our hands together behind our backs before handcuffing us. He then walks out of the room for a minute before coming back with a step latter and something shiny in his arms. Going into the middle of the room, he sets up the latter and starts walking up it, putting the shiny thing into the ceiling.

"What the hell is going on here," Jaren then asks me.

"I actually don't know," I tell him, honestly. "This is kind of new to me."

"What do you mean this is new to you?"

"He means we normally aren't this behind," Ohm answers, stepping off the latter before pulling it back a couple of feet. "Normally, we'd have everything set up and would have no reason to be in the room. We'd just tell you two what to do, and sit back and watch the show."

"Show? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

When Jaren asks this, Delirious raises an eyebrow, before shifting his body over to look at me, pointing the gun at me. "Looks like we aren't the only two behind today, babe," he then says to Ohm before taking a couple of steps towards me. The entire time he walks over to me, my eyes don't leave the barrel of the gun. "You should have explained everything to him by now."

When he stops and I am actually looking down the barrel, I can't help but roll my eyes and shake my head at the two. "We got a little distracted talking about something else. For god's sake, you bastards dragged a seventeen-year-old into this. He's just a fucking kid."

"A kid sneaking out to go to a college party," Ohm adds in before he jumps off of the latter.

"Yeah, to look for his friend! He wasn't drinking or trying to fuck, was he? He told me what you told him, and that's so fucked up, Ohm! He has barely even lived long enough to smoke a cigarette or to get a tattoo! Everyone else you've dragged into this hell has at least gotten to have some kind of life!"

"We're not talking about a little kid here, Evan," Ohm then says, walking over to Delirious and glaring down at me, his hands on his hips. "This bastard is old enough to know what's right and what's wrong. He's old enough to drive. He's old enough to start making decisions on his own, and the first fucking decision he decided to make was to put his nose into something that it doesn't belong." He then looks over to Jaren and starts chuckling. "We've been doing this shit for seven fucking months," he starts before walking around so that he could be on the other side of Delirious. "We've had the police looking for us for seven months, and somehow you thought you were smarter than both them and us, and old enough to shove your nose into our business. Got to ask, kid. What the fuck was the plan after this? I mean, look around, you just found out where all those poor bastards have been going, and soon you're going to find out what's been happening to them. So what's the plan after this?"

"I-" Jaren starts, but his voice is already shaky from either the fear of what's going to happen next or from the tears building up in his eyes.

"Leave him alone," I yell out, glaring at Ohm, feeling my heart pounding in my chest as I try my best to glare him down. However, no matter how tough I try to make myself look, I know that it's pointless. After all, there's only so much power you can have when you're the one with your hands handcuffed behind your back.

Ohm snarls at me before turning away and walking out of the room. Delirious, however, walks over to me and grabs my chin, making me look up to him and hissing in pain as he digs his fingers into my jaw. "Don't forget where you fucking are, Evan. Don't forget what we can fucking do. Who we can get close to." I then hear him click back the hammer on the gun before he presses it right in between my eyes. "Don't forget who has everything that can kill you."

He then drops me before taking a few steps back, never turning his back towards me. Once he's a few steps away from me, I look over to Jaren and whisper, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah; are you?"

"I've gone through a lot worse, don't worry about me." I look pass Delirious and soon see Ohm walking back in with two chairs and some rope. This makes my eyes widen and I look up to Delirious. "You guys can't be serious?!"

"What," Jaren asks, confused and slightly worried.

Delirious smirks and kneels down a bit so that he could be eye level with me. "What's wrong, Ev? Having a little flashback?"

"Fuck off, Delirious! You guys can't make us go through that again!"

"You're right," he chuckles. "We can't. To make you two go through that, we were going to need more time to set up, and we would have needed the boxes from that trap. However, those boxes are long gone and we didn't have the time to set shit up before you two woke up. So, we had to improvise."

Ohm smiles before putting out the two chairs, making them both have their backs to each other. He then stands on one of them and puts the rope through what I now know is going to be used for some kind of pulley system. Then, once he steps off them, he ties off one end of both ropes into a noose. When I look over to Jaren, I see him start to shake.

"Th-this has to be a nightmare... This can't be real... John-" Before he could even finish his thought, Ohm walks over to us and grabs him by the arm, roughly pulling him onto his feet before pushing him over to the chairs. I try to stop them; however, before I could push myself onto my feet, Delirious kicks me back against the wall and presses the gun against my forehead again.

With a smirk on his face, Delirious leans in and whispers to me, "Be a good boy and wait right here. You know what will happen if you misbehavior." I gulp and lower my head, feeling dirty all of a sudden, but nodding to let him know that I understand. Once he gets that from me, he turns away and walks over to Ohm and Jaren, helping Ohm get the noose around Jaren's neck before they put him on the chair. Ohm then grabs the end of his rope and pulls on it, letting him know that moving would be a bad idea.

Once Jaren is in place, Delirious walks over and grabs my arm, pulling me onto my feet before walking me over to the other chair. He puts the noose around my neck and has me walk onto the chair, which I painfully follow, knowing that fighting back would only make this so much harder for me later. After I feel him tug on my rope, I practically feel my throat close up again.

This was one of the hardest rounds I had to be in before... And now I have to live through it again. Shutting my eyes, I think back to that hanging body gently swinging from side to side. An image that is going to be burned into my mind for the rest of my life. One that I am going to die with... and if I'm not careful, I could die with it today.

Taking a deep breath, I try to relax as I feel Delirious tie the end of Jaren's rope around my waist. Once I feel the rope slightly tighten around my throat, I know that Ohm did the same thing on Jaren. ... _**If either one of us fuck up, we're both dead...If HE fucks up, I'm dead...**_

When I hear Ohm and Delirious step out into the open, I turn my head slightly so I can see them. They both smile at each other before Delirious starts, putting his gun behind his back. "Now, as we explained before, this is a bit of a cheaper vision of a round we've already done, but that really couldn't have been helped."

"The rules are simple," Ohm then takes over, stepping away from Delirious and walking around Jaren and me. "You two are to try to kill each other, and the one that is alive will get to live another week. Right now, you two are in a position where if you were to try to just jump off of your chairs or if you were to even move, you will kill both of you. However, there is a way for one of you to live. You two just need to figure it out. You will not be allowed food, water, or sleep until one of you is dead."

"Oh, you're not going to lie to us this time," I ask, glaring at Ohm as he walks by me.

He flashes me his famous, twisted, far too large smile, before whispering, "Depends. How honest are you going to be?"

Walking away from me, he rejoins Delirious, wrapping his arms around one of his before they start walking backward. "You two now know the rules," Delirious starts.

"And how to win the game," Ohm takes over.

"Wait, no," Jaren yells out, pulling on my rope slightly as he starts to struggle with his handcuffs. "You can't leave us like this! How the fuck are we meant to do anything if we can't use our arms?!"

The two sharing their twisted smiles, they step out of the room. Grabbing the door, Delirious slowly starts pulling it shut as he and Ohm say at the same time, "The game starts now," before closing it completely.

The second we hear the door lock, I could feel the rope around my neck getting tugged as Jaren continues to freak out. I, however, try to stay calm and still while trying to talk to him.

_I need to stay calm. I need to stay calm. I can't die. Not here. Not like this._

**Author's Note:**

> _**Hey Foxes!** _
> 
> _**Okay, I'm going to try to keep this quick! I'm excited for this story, what else is new, and I'm hoping for everything to go well with this!** _
> 
> _**Schedule for each upload will be every Friday!** _
> 
> _**With that being said, I'll see all of you Lovely Foxes in the next chapter! Bye!** _


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